Episode Fluff
by StormWriter18
Summary: Because my sister wanted me to write some non-over the top fluff. Hence the title. A hopefully humourous story about the Storm Hawks on Valentine's day. And watch out; Cupid's got a crossbow.
1. Crystals Are a Girl's Best Friend

EPISODE FLUFF

PART ONE: Crystals Are a Girl's Best Friend

Stork growled in exasperation. " I said no chocolate. _No chocolate_. Does the word _no_ mean nothing to you?"

He glanced over at Finn who was stuffing his mouth with another bonbon, foil wrapper in hand.

"C'mon Stork," he said, mouth full. "Everyone loves chocolate." he shook the more-than half-eaten box in his face.

Stork growled and retreated. _"I'm allergic Finn_!" Then he turned into panic mode. "I can already feel my hives coming on." He took out a small aerosol can and proceeded to spray himself on the arms with it.

"Here Stork," said Piper holding up a nicely wrapped box with a little card stuck to it. "Special made sandcakes and Merb cabbage pie." She said smiling.

Stork took the box. "Merb…cabbage pie?" He said, a grin overcoming his features, the threat of hives temporarily erased. "Well…I suppose it could do no harm."

Piper continue to smile. "Happy Valentines Day Stork." She said and hugged him. Stork reacted with shock and discomfort, but after a second , unsurely and awkwardly hugged back with one arm. They parted but not before Finn started making obnoxious "Ooooh" noises.

"_Finn_," Stated Piper frowning and folding her arms.

"What?" he replied before finishing off the last bon bon from the box he planned on giving Stork.

Piper just sighed.

The Storm Hawks sat around the table on the main deck. The surface was littered with red, pink, white, and other wrappings. Junko had attempted to make traditional Wallop Frump cookies , which everyone had politely accepted despite the bubbling goo and occasional movement of the cookies themselves. Finn had bought everyone the same small boxes of chocolate with little post-it-notes on them declaring "Happy V-day!". Stork had distributed packages of Anti-Placbug floss which smelt partially like mint and partially like swamp gas. Piper had given everyone a nicely wrapped box filled with their favourite treat. Even Radarr had made little cards signed with paw prints for everyone. Aerrow gave his gifts last. He went around the table and put down little bags filled with heart-shaped candies with a little tags attached, but when he came to Piper's spot at the table he put down a small box instead.

"What's this?" Piper asked confused.

Aerrow sat back down at the table. "I picked it up back at that last terra while on recon. I figured you'd like it more than a bag of candy."

Piper looked down at the box that was small enough to sit on one hand and opened it. Inside was a sparkling, iridescent crystal. The crystal was shaped basically like a Geyser crystal, but with more, thinner, six-sided, pyramid topped columns that grew off the main crystal. It's surface was cut in many places and each of its many faces reflected the light.

Luminous, semi translucent, and prismatic, the crystal brought on a series of gasps from Piper and the rest of the squadron.

"It's an Iris crystal…I think." Said Aerrow with a doubtful smile.

Piper held up the crystal so it caught the light better; it shot rays of different colours around the condor. Radarr looked down at his chest and, to no avail, tried to catch some of the dots of light on him.

"You're right." Said Piper marvelling at the crystal. "An impressive one at that too." Although truthfully, she was more impressed that Aerrow had actually known what type of crystal it was. She shot him a brilliant smile, which he also returned.

"Ooh…_Shiny_," said Junko a hypnotised look on his face. Finn's mouth was hanging open. Then he shook his head and, looking sourly at Aerrow, muttered "Showoff."

Piper put the crystal back in the box still smiling.

"Thanks Aerrow!" She said glancing at him again.

"It was nothing," he replied. _Nothing for me that it is. _The terra hadn't exactly been…well...it wasn't treacherous…but it was wild enough. _Wild enough to be a fun challenge anyways. _He had rather enjoyed meandering around and it was just plain luck that he'd spotted the crystal.

The gears at the very back of Finn's mind had begun turning and new thoughts drifted to the surface. A mischievous look overcame his features and he leaned back leisurely in his seat.

"That doesn't look like nothing," He said pointing at the box raising his eyebrows in an all-knowing fashion. "Infact, it looks like a lot of _something_. Uh huh."

His instigations went nowhere.

At that point Stork seemed to slouch over to Piper's side and examine the crystal in it's box with a somewhat ominous look.

"Ummm…what exactly does an Iris crystal do?"

"Yah! What exactly what does this so called Iris crystal do?", Finn remarked, still trying to cause trouble. He edged as close to Piper as he could from the other side of the table. He looked over at Aerrow still grinning. "You didn't get her something dangerous did you?" he said as though the idea was hilarious.

"No," said Aerrow. "…not really anyways." He'd been prepared for this. After retrieving the Iris crystal he had been sure to do his research (a helpful tip he had picked from his navigator).

"Iris crystals don't really have any special qualities ," he explained. "Occasional they're used to focus light rays and also for decoration. They're only dangerous if you ingest them."

"What happens if you ingest them?" asked Junko who would ingest pretty much anything.

Aerrow looked uncomfortable. "Then they would be..uh..poisonous, but..uh..only _if_ you ingest them." He emphasized the last bit.

"So you're trying to poison her?" said Finn amused.

"No," said Aerrow. "Piper's not going to eat the crystal."

"Junko might." Finn retorted.

"Hey!" Interrupted the Wallop, but then amended "I'd ask first."

"No. Aerrow's right." said Piper who explained. "Iris crystals are only poisonous if you crush them up and then dissolve them in water. And they're near impossible to crush." She smiled again at Aerrow. "You really did your research." She was even more impressed that he had known the properties of an Iris crystal.

Aerrow just shrugged and smiled.

"As long as it doesn't destroy the ship," said Stork. "Unlike the last time _someone_ brought unknown crystals on board." He glared at Finn as he said it. The rest of the crew remembered quite well the incident with the Leech crystals; their true identity had been discovered only moments before the Condor was drained of energy and sent plummeting to the ground- _a little too late for comfort._

"How was I suppose know they were Leechers?" said Finn raising his hands up innocence.

Stork made a sort of growling noise.

"I'm going to go put this with the rest of my collection." Said Piper happily and she took the box back to her room.

After she'd left Finn decided to make his move.

"So…" he said nonchalantly. "What gives?"

Aerrow looked questioningly at Finn. "What do you mean?" he replied.

"C'mon," said Finn. "A crystal like that? That means something you know."

Aerrow still hadn't quite caught on to where Finn was headed. "I just figured she'd like it more than some candy." He said uncomfortably.

"Duuude." Finn said as though it was obvious. " You practically asked her to go steady."

Aerrow's eyes went wide.

Stork and Junko were equally shocked. They looked at Finn and then at Aerrow. Each was replaying the previous scenes in their heads trying to see whatever Finn had seen.

"Woah, woah woah," Said Aerrow raising up his hands in defence. "It-it's nothing like that. " He insisted. "Were just friends."

"Wait," said Junko slightly confused. "You mean Aerrow and Piper…?"

"No, no, no Junko." Said Aerrow still frazzled. " It's nothing like that. Finn's just misinterpreting."

"Uh huh." Said Finn, completely unconvinced. He put his elbow on the table and rested his face in his hand while his other arm rested on the table. "What was it Cyclonis said? _Perfect attunement_?"

Aerrow was starting to sweat now. He had leapt from mountains, jumped skimmer to skimmer while thousands of feet in the air, faced squads of Talons, Murk Raiders, Raptors and fought the Dark Ace, the legendary pilot of Cyclonia, one on one but _this_? No, this was one conversation he wasn't brave enough to bear.

"Uh.. I don't know. " He said. "I'm..uh ..gonna go..check the furnaces." He rose from his seat while he spoke.

"Didn't you check them yesterday?" asked Junko pointing a finger at Aerrow.

Aerrow was already backing up out of the room while he replied.

"Umm…yeah well I thought ..I uh ..heard them making some weird noises, so I'm just gonna go check it out .Now." And when he finished he zipped out of the room.

"Oh yeah." said Finn also getting up. He folded his arms over his chest. "Definitely something."

"I'm still confused." said Junko looking up at Finn.

"Don't worry buddy. Let the Finnster explain his almighty plan."

Suddenly the green Merb's face was right in front of Finn.

"I know what you're trying to do," he said pointing at finger at Finn's chest, "It will end in _disaster_."

Finn put a hand on Stork's shoulder and moved him out of the way. "Relax Stork," he said walking away from the table. He turned to back to face him. "They'll be thanking me later. You coming Junko?"

"Uh…yeah." said Junko, who was still confused. He got up from the table and went after Finn.

Stork watched them leave. From under the table emerged Radarr, whose face was covered in chocolate. He licked his lips, looked around the room and then chirped at Stork as though to say, _Where did everybody go?_

Stork looked down at Radarr. "Yup," he said before glancing back at the doorway.

"Disaster."


	2. How Not to Ask a Girl on a Date

PART TWO: How _not_ to Ask a Girl on a Date

Piper was in her room trying to create a mobile in which she could hang the new Iris crystal along with some of her other weaker grade and power drained crystals.

There was knock at the door.

"Come in," called Piper. She looked up from her work bench as the door opened.

"Stork?" she said surprised. "Aren't you supposed to be driving?"

The green Merb leaned half into the doorway, the rest of him hidden behind the wall.

"Radarr's got it covered." he said. (Stork knew very well that Radarr not only wanted to fly the ship but happened to be very good at it too.) "I just came here to warn you."

"Warn me of what?" said Piper who knew not to overreact to Stork's 'warnings' since they were usually about the most unlikely and bizarre things.

Stork's eyes narrowed and his pupils darted from side to side before answering.

"_Finn's up to no good.", _He half whispered.

Piper laughed.

"Finn's always up to no good, Stork. Don't need to be so paranoid about it."

"Oh... but _I'm_ not the target." he said. "_You are."_

Piper raised an eyebrow. "I've dealt with Finn's pranks before." she said, and having dealt with Finn's pranks before she knew it was best to ask, "What exactly is he planning?"

"Umm…It's not exactly a prank but -"

He was interrupted by footsteps coming down the hall accompanied by a whistling. Stork glanced to his right. "Well," he said. "You'll see for yourself." And with that he disappeared.

A couple seconds later Finn entered the room.

"Hey Piper," he said leaning on the door frame. "What cha up to?'

Piper looked warily at Finn. "Nothing much." She replied.

"I see you've got that Iris crystal with ya." He said walking over to her work bench and pointing at the glittering stone.

"Yeah," was all Piper could say in response. "I'm making a mobile." She added in case he couldn't guess at the contraption on her desk.

"You know," said Finn now leaning on her wall. "I hear that when someone gives an Iris crystal it's a sign of _love_."

Piper sat up straighter in her seat. _So this what Stork meant, _she thought. She looked Finn in the eye. "Where'd you hear that?" she asked.

Finn was caught in his lie for a moment and he struggled to find a way out.

"Uh...you know," he said. "Around."

"_Riiight_." said Piper.

"That's probably what he thought anyways." said Finn observing his nails like the conversation was nothing.

Piper was pretty sure she knew who Finn meant by 'he'. Still, she had to ask.

"Who?" She said. Her stomach suddenly felt uncomfortable like it was dropping.

"You know," said Finn. "_Aerrow_."

Her stomach hit the floor. Metaphorically of course.

Finn kept talking. "He probably figured you knew that stuff about Iris crystals too."

He ran his pointed index finger under his nose and sniffed. "_Poor guy_."

"Hey! Just, wait a second Finn," said Piper putting up her hands motioning to stop.

"One; I have _never_ ever heard that about Iris crystals, so I doubt he did either. Two: Aerrow and I are friends. Good friends.. but just friends. We aren't…we don't ..have those sort of…feelings about each other." But even she wasn't sure what she meant by 'those sort of feelings'.

"Well," said Finn looking partially grim . "You might not."

Her stomach dropped through the floor, out the bottom of the Condor and went hurdling downwards through the open sky.

A small bit of her brain chirped up at this point and reminded Piper that Finn was trying to cause trouble and she couldn't honestly believe a word of what he said.

Finn's smile crept back onto his face as he watched the colour drain from Piper's face.

Piper saw this, and her twanging irritation brought back her spirit.

She was not, no way, no how, going to lose a _mind game _to _Finn_ of all people.

"Finn," she said in her best 'irritated with Finn' voice. "Iris crystals, are not and have never been a sign of love."

"Sure they are!" He argued.

"Then where did hear it?"

"Uh.. I told you.. around…I can't remember."

"Oh really?" she said "You can't remember?" _How convenient…_she was on to him now!

Finn decided on a different approach.

"Uh.. well it might have been on Terra Muse." He said (which wasn't a bad lie considering he had been there before for a couple of concerts). "You know we'll be stopping there to restock soon don't you."

"Yeah," Piper said, and another great idea hatched in her mind. "Then I can ask around to see if you're right about Iris crystals."

"Uh…yeah" muttered Finn temporarily stunned. She had caught him again.

"Well," said Finn, deciding to try another approach. "They uh…say Terra Muse is the terra of music, which if you know anything about music, also makes it the terra of love."

Piper looked sceptical. She didn't quite understand how being the terra of music also made it the terra of love.

"Which also means," said Finn. "That terra Muse is thee perfect place on Valentine's day to go on date. You know," he said leaning closer. "With someone special."

"Really?" asked Piper.

"Yeah," said Finn. "I mean, you'd probably really like it, and I know it's certainly the place I'd like to go on a date…"

Piper looked wide eyed at Finn. Suddenly, it dawned on her that perhaps she'd misinterpreted Finn's earlier remarks. She could guess that he had been trying to figure out if she had feelings for Aerrow, but maybe not of concern for _him_. And she'd basically said no…

"Are you asking me out?" said Piper incredulous. The words were out of her mouth before she'd even and the chance to stop herself. Finn looked equally shocked and several emotions flitted across his features. Then he looked thoughtful for a second, an idea dawning.

"Uh.. yeah." he said. "Maybe I am." He smiled at his brilliance. _Going out with Piper is sure to make Aerrow jealous, _he thought_._ _And then he'd have to face his feelings_. _Score one for the Finn! _

Piper sat there in dumb amazement. Finn had...asked her out?

Finn stood there smiling, proud of his plan.

After a moment of awkward silence Piper spoke.

"You mean.. you and me.. on a date.. on Terra Muse?"

"That's the idea." he said. "Of course_," _he added "If you have feelings for someone else, I'll completely understand."

Piper's jaw hung open. Once again, Finn's actions had completely caught her off guard. Then the rational voice in the back of her head started screaming '_Remember what Stork said! Remember what Stork said! Finn's playing you. Don't fall for it!'_

She promptly shut her jaw and tried to think logically. She took everything she knew about Finn and everything Finn had just said and tried to fit it all together. Then she looked at Finn.

"What game are you playing at?" She asked bluntly.

"What?" he said and scoffed. "_Piper_," he chastised, "My feelings are no _game_." He dramatically put his hand over where his heart was (or where he _thought _his heart was- his hand was on the wrong side of his chest). "I'm hurt that you would just brush this off like some…joke." He said not really sounding hurt at all.

Piper raised an eyebrow. She knew Finn. Knew him well enough to see past his dramatics. But just in case he wasn't lying….

"Umm…listen Finn," she said trying to be polite on the off chance he meant what he said. "It's nice of you to ask me and all…but..well..were teammates first of all.. and it's really not a good idea to date within the team you know? All kinds of problems." She looked at him trying to identify his reaction. "And.. really.. were friends but.. we really don't have a lot in common."

"Sure we do." Finn replied.

"Like?" asked Piper.

Finn thought for a moment. "We like the same mu- ah no wait….we both like- uh no not that.. well.. were both Storm Hawks." He suggested.

Piper gave the 'are you kidding?' look.

"Hey well, opposites attract."

Piper looked cynical. " No. I'm sorry Finn…but I don't feel that way about you."

Finn's plan had fallen like a house of cards. Now he was he trying to sweep the 52 jokers under the rug.

"Uh..yeah..well..I was uh- I was just, you know, testing you. Ha, yeah. I, uh, don't really feel that way about you either-I mean, you're great and all, but uh…" He scratched his head wondering how his whole charade had backfired. He hadn't suspected that Piper would turn him down (_Who would turn down the Finnster?). _Now she thought he liked her. Eeuh…

"You know what?" said Finn. "Forget I said any of that. Better yet, forget I came in. ..I'm …not myself. You know I've had this itching at the back of my head...and maybe Stork's right about those Mind Worms. Yeah, I can feel them in my…brain. I-I should just go check with Stork.. maybe he's got something for it."

With squabbling hand gestures, some stumbling, and a quick 'bye' Finn had exited the room quicker than you can say _Raxacoricofallapatorius._

_Which is actually pretty long…_

* * *

**A/N (Author's Note)**

**So there's part two for you. I know; up pretty quick isn't it? I'll try to pace myself some more between posting dates ( I already have up to part 5 complete, but there's some little details I need to work out.) **

**Anyway because I forgot to add an author's note at the end of chap 1 here some little facts I wanted to add:**

**Fact: I didn't make up Stork's allergies to chocolate. He really is allergic. (See Life with Luegey ep). As for the Iris crystal... that's based on Swarovski crystals, specifically the Aurora Borealis type. They are actaully made from lead _which is_ poisonous. But trust me, once you see one glitter in the light, you don't care what they're made of. And the word '_Raxacoricofallapatorius'_ comes from Doctor Who and it is the name of an alien planet.**

**Hope you liked this chap [I threw in a bit of FinnXPiper for fun ;)] please keep up the reviews. I love to know where I can improve and what your favorite parts are.**


	3. The Condor Doesn't Count

PART THREE: The Condor Doesn't Count

Finn walked through the metal hallway trying to figure out how he'd messed up his plan, how to fix it, and hoped Junko had had more luck with intimidating Aerrow.

However, Junko was on the main deck eating gloopy fruit.

"Junko!" exclaimed Finn. He lowered his voice so Stork couldn't hear over at the helm. "What are you doing? You're suppose to be interrogating Aerrow."

Junko swallowed his gloopy fruit and picked up another one from the table. "Well, I did." he said and bit the rancid fruit.

"And..?" egged on Finn.

Junko swallowed again. "Well, he said that its none of our business."

"Of course it's our business." said Finn taking the gloopy fruit from Junko and sitting down at the table next to him. "They're our teammates. And they like each other; it's practically our duty to bring them together."

"I don't know Finn." said Junko. "I mean, we don't know if they like each other like that. And isn't it really something they should do on their own terms?"

"Tah!" said Finn brushing off his comments. "Duh they like each other." He bit into the gloopy fruit (forgetting that he hated it) and quickly spat it back out in disgust. He put the fruit on the table and moved it away from himself. Junko gladly finished it off.

"Well," said Junko, mouth still full. "What if they don't?"

"Just trust me Junko." said Finn putting his feet on the table (which he wasn't allowed to do) and reclining in his seat, arms behind his head. " I know what I'm doing." He fidgeted in the chair and smiled to himself. "Yeah, move over Cupid. The Finn, is in, and his crossbow never misses."

He needed a plan and a good one at that ,since Piper was going to be involved. For once Finn started to analyze the situation. What had happened and where had he went wrong with his conversation with Piper? He hadn't a specific plan in mind at that time. Nor had he decided on his 'story'. He needed to make his plan full proof; he needed to know Piper and Aerrow's next move before they even made it. Finn started to realize this was going to be harder than he first imagined. And all he was trying to do was to get two people together!

_Boy, does Cupid have it tough, _he thought.

Stork's voice came over the intercom. "We've reached Terra Muse. I'm putting us down now."

The ship slowed, stopped, lurched, and landed in an open space of land. Off in the distance, down a slight incline the Muse City stood tall, bright, and _loud. _They were still quite far from it but the noise seemed to carry.

Stork grimaced at the sight of the town. If the Condor wasn't in such dire need of parts then he wouldn't have dared go near it.

Finn smiled. "Time to commence stage two of my plan."

Junko looked befuddled. "Stage two? What's stage two?"

Finn didn't answer him.

Right then, Aerrow strode onto the main deck. He walked up to the helm.

"Good work Stork." He said. "You have the list of everything we need?"

"Piper's got it." He said flatly.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"Right here!" called Piper as she entered. She went up to Stork and handed it to him.

"You guys don't mind if I sit this one out do ya?" She asked looking from Stork to Aerrow. "I've just started an experiment."

"WHAT?" cried Finn. The others turned. "You started an experiment _now_? Can't it wait?"

"Oh c'mon Finn," she said light-heartedly. "I don't really need to tag along do I?"

Finn grounded his teeth_. She was ruining his plan already_! She was _supposed_ to come shopping with the rest of them. Then he'd find a way to dump her and Aerrow, so it'd be like a date for them. Then he could date searching himself.

But, _nooo_! She just couldn't co-operate could she?

Piper, of course, had no intention of co-operating with any of Finn's plans. She had figured that if she stayed on the ship she would be able to avoid whatever mischief Finn had in store.

"That's fine." said Aerrow, who was also suspicious of Finn. He'd made things awkward enough for one day, and he now he wasn't able to look at Piper without feeling embarrassed. At least Junko had been merciful…If it had been Finn he might have had to use some of his Sky Knight authority to shut him up. He had also figured that the only reason it had been Junko bugging him instead of Finn, was that Finn had decided to bug Piper instead. He could only _imagine_ what Finn had told her.

Finn frowned as his leader gave in, permanently foiling his plans.

But then…something in his brain clicked. Maybe it had been all the sugar he'd eaten, maybe that was why his brain had suddenly and conveniently given him another quick idea.

He smiled.

"Hmmm…You know," he said slowly. "Piper's right. We don't really need everyone to go now do we?"

He slunk over and put his arm around Aerrow.

He wondered what Finn was getting at. One minute he was upset about Piper staying, next he was happy about it. Finn spoke.

"In fact, why don't you also stay here? Stork knows exactly what the Condor needs-" He gestured to Stork standing at the helm, ".. and Junko and me are muscle enough." Junko, who stood by the table, flexed his large muscles as to prove Finn's point.

Before Aerrow could respond Finn had already grabbed Stork and began towing him towards one of the doors. "You stay here and rest and we'll just do all the hard stuff."

Meanwhile Stork was struggling against Finn's grasp. Then Finn whipped around and so that Stork was in front of him. Junko was already out the door.

Aerrow glanced at Piper, then back at his migrating squadron.

"Wait Finn, uh, shouldn't we -"

"No, no, no," said Finn smiling and shaking his head, while he pushed Stork towards the door. "You stay here and keep Piper company." He gave Stork a final shove through the door. Radarr at this time was standing on the table. Finn quickly walked over and grabbed him. "You too Radarr," he said.

Piper and Aerrow watched with growing discomfort as the rest of the squadron dissipated before their eyes.

Finn hung back in the threshold still gripping Radarr by the nape of his neck. Radarr was extremely upset about this and tried to wrench himself from Finn's grasp.

"We'll just leave you two alone now." He said , winking without any shame.

And then…they were alone, the rest of Storm Hawks headed towards Terra Muse.

Aerrow glanced at Piper, and Piper at Aerrow. They quickly turned away, both feeling strangely self-conscious.

Silently, and scornfully, they cursed Finn's name.

*************

"Dude I am so smooth!" Shouted Finn as he, Junko, and Stork browsed the wares down a street. "Matchmaking is my gift." He cracked his fingers.

Stork growled. As if Finn hadn't caused enough trouble for one day, he had to brag about it too. However, as much as Finn's bragging annoyed him, he'd rather listen to it than to the noise on Terra Muse. About four different songs, all of different styles were playing at maximum volume. The clashing melodies created a major cacophony as well as a major headache for Stork. _For a Terra of Music_…he thought to himself. _It's not very harmonious!_

Behind them Junko was lugging a large piece of machinery on a cart. Radarr rode on top of it.

"Heck," said Finn. "I bet by the end of the day those two will be practically engaged."

"Why do you insist on getting them together?" Hissed Stork. " Love isn't something you can just force on people. You have to let it…come naturally."

"Oh really," said Finn stopping to put his hands on his hips. "And what would you know about love?"

"More than you," said Stork turning around.

Finn scoffed. "I've met plenty of girls!"

"Pfh. Have you actually dated any?"

"Guh..uh well…"

"Exactly." said Stork.

"Oh yeah? Well, _Mr. Romance_, what makes you such an expert?", Finn questioned. He was quite curious to know what kind of relations Stork had had. He just couldn't imagine the Merb on any kind of date. What did Merbian girls look like anyways? He'd never actually met any…

"Oh I've already met my one true love," he said dreamy-eyed. He pulled a photograph out his pocket and kissed it. Finn greedily grabbed it, anxious to see what kind of girlfriend Stork had…Then his face fell.

"Stork, the Condor doesn't count." He said frowning. Junko chuckled behind Finn.

"Gah!" cried Stork, snatching back the photo. "Don't say that!" he said indignantly. He petted the photo gently before putting it back in his pocket.

Finn sighed in pity. "You need to get a real girlfriend Stork."

"You are NOT setting me up on a date, Finn. Besides, there's no room in my heart for any one else." he said the last sentence so tenderly.

"C'mon Stork, I'm sure we can find you a date, even for someone like you."

Stork wasn't sure how insulted to be by the 'even for someone like you' part, but he snarled at the idea anyways.

"But..it's Valentines day," stated Junko. "Isn't everyone already ..well, taken?"

Junko had an excellent point. All around them were _pairs_ of people. Everything about Valentine's day was oriented to couples.

"Don't sweat it," said Finn flipping hiss hands. "Terra Muse is the best place to get a date! Every Valentine's day they hold a majorly cool Single's Dance, where you hook up with other singles. And tonight," he said putting his arm around his tall friend. "You, me and Stork, are gonna find ourselves some sweet babes!" _Or at least_, he thought, _I am anyways…_

"Oh no" said Stork taking a step back. "I'm not going to anything. Once we get all the parts we need I'm heading straight back the ship." He pointed in what was probably the direction of the Condor.

"You can't do that Stork," said Finn. He leaned in a little closer to whisper, "If we go back too early we might interrupt something." he said and cocked his eyebrows. The idea of his team mates getting together did not amuse Stork the way it entertained Finn.

"You do realize," said Stork, "That they're probably just going to stay in their rooms and read right?"

"Ha!," said Finn. "They wouldn't do that."

Stork shook his head, wishing the sun would just set so the day could be over.

_But Finn was right..._

* * *

**A/N:**

**Thanks guys for all the awsome reviews! And thank you Midnight-Rose-Dew for the word paraskavedekatriaphobia. I will never be able to say it. Keep reviewing please!**


	4. Piper Makes a Disco Ball

PART FOUR: Piper Makes a Disco Ball

"You do realize," said Stork, "That they're probably just going to stay in their rooms and read right?"

"Ha!," said Finn. "They wouldn't do that."

Stork shook his head, wishing the sun would just set so the day could be over.

****

Finn was right though.

In fact, only Aerrow was reading, but he wasn't in his room. Instead he sat on the main deck, looking uninterestedly through a book about the most dangerous creatures of Atmos.

Piper however, was in her room, but she was constructing an experiment ( she figured she should at least start a small one in case Finn got nosy again).

So Stork had been only partially right.

Aerrow lazily flipped through another page, barely focusing on the text. Since the others had left he and Piper had awkwardly dismissed each other. Normally, they would be chatting and joking around. Or she'd be showing him one of her experiments. Or maybe he would discuss future battle strategies with her. They could have been practicing some Sky Fu moves, or the Binding. If anything at least, they would be sitting in the same room.

Normally, anyways. But it was not a normal day. He had Finn to blame for that.

For a minute he contemplated checking up on her, while staring blankly at the page.

Finally, sighing in frustration, he wrenched himself from his seat and headed towards Piper's room.

He raised his hand to knock on the door, but hesitated, fist raised in the air. It wasn't too late to turn back he thought. His fist lowered. But this time his pride wouldn't let him chicken out.

_I__'m a Skyknight for crying out loud! I can't be afraid of..of…_He wasn't sure exactly what he was so afraid of. That only made him feel more pathetic. He took a deep breath of air and stoop up straight. Then he knocked on the door.

It opened.

Piper was at her work desk working with some blue and green crystals. A neat stack of notes sat in the front right corner. The back right corner was occupied by metal and crystal contraption. In the midst of metal and strings, Aerrow noticed the Iris crystal glittering brightly.

He leaned causally on the door frame. "Hey." he said trying to look calm. "What are you working on?"

Piper only looked slightly uncomfortable. "Oh nothing much." she said offhand.

Aerrow half smiled, the directed his attention the mess of wires in the corner. "Whats…?" he asked pointing.

"Oh that?" asked Piper. She smiled but couldn't hide her discomfort. "I'm trying to make a mobile." She reached into the pile and grabbed what was the top hook. As she lifted it the mobile took form. Blue and green stones hung down on chains and string. In the center was the Iris crystal. As she lifted it, the sunlight through her window hit the crystals which sent muti-coloured light all over the room. Even though Piper had just started the mobile it was already very beautiful.

"Wow," said Aerrow.

"That's not all," said Piper excited now by her own creation. "Hit the lights." She said. Aerrow flicked the light switch and Piper closed the blinds on the window, eloping the room in darkness. Before his eyes could adjust, Aerrow heard Piper tap twice on the crystals with her nail. The blue crystals lit up. The green crystals also began to glow subtly. The light from the blue and green crystals hit the Iris crystal which reflected the light around the room. As the crystals spun slowly, so did the lights.

"Lunar and Glow crystals right?" Guessed Aerrow.

Piper giggled. "Yup." That was the second time that day he had correctly named a crystal, or in this case, crystals.

Aerrow laughed lightly too. "You'd better watch out." He said. "Finn might try to use it as a disco ball."

Instead of laughing Piper looked downcast. "Speaking of Finn…" she said. She put the mobile down back on the table. As she did the crystals darkened slightly, so Aerrow flicked the lights back on.

"Has he, uh, been talking to you?" She asked.

"You too huh?" Said Aerrow, dread rising once more.

She half-smiled sadly.

"You know," said Aerrow, standing up straight, "We should just forget whatever Finn said to us. He's just trying to cause trouble."

"Yeah," said Piper. "He's just trying to mess with our heads."

"We can't let him get to us." said Aerrow.

"Yeah." said Piper. "There's no way Finn can win a mind game against _us_."

They chuckled at the idea. Then...silence. There was a moment of awkward quiet between them.

"So what did he tell you?"

They stared at each other then looked away embarrassed. They had ask at the same question at the same time.

"You first." They said in union, bringing out another awkward moment.

The frowned uncomfortably at each other.

*****************.

_Back on Terra Muse…_

Stork and Junko were browsing the wares of another shop while Radarr sat outside with Finn watching the cart. Finn was admiring his reflection in the machinery they'd bought, while Radarr rolled his eyes at his narcissism.

'_Bock'._

Radarr turned in the direction of the noise but saw nothing. Finn was oblivious .

'_Bock, bock,'_

Radarr looked around sharply. Admist all the music playing it was a sound he could not ignore.

'_Bock'._

Then he saw it. The source of the clucking.

Peeking out from behind the corner of the shop, hidden in a little alley, was a plump yellow hen. She fluttered her eye lids flirtatiously at Radarr.

Radarr made a wining sound. He could not believe his eyes. How did she always know where he was?

The hen motioned with a wing for him to come closer.

Radarr instead retreated unsure about what to do next. He turned around and reached into his back pocket bringing out a small aerosol can of mouth freshener. He sprayed once into his mouth then checked his breath. Putting the aerosol can back in his pocket, he motioned to Finn. Finn looked other at Radar. "What is it buddy?"

Radarr then commenced into a game of charades. He pointed to himself.

"You," said Finn.

Radarr then walked on the spot.

"Walk," said Finn. "You walk? Radarr you've been riding on the cart the entire day. If you wanted to walk you could just get off."

Radarr groaned and put his palm to his face. This would be so much easier with Stork. He always managed to know what Radarr was trying to say.

Radarr tried again. He pointed to himself. Then moved his hands in a circular motion around each other to signify 'going' and then walked on the spot .

Finn scratched his head, confused.

Radarr's shoulder's dropped, and he growled exasperated."You want a walk?" said Finn still guessing. "You… want to go for a walk?'

Radarr couldn't believe his ears. Finn had actually guessed it! Sort of…

He nodded exuberantly.

"Well, we can go for a walk later, Radarr."

Radarr growled again but this time in irritation. He hoped off the cart and, waved bye to Finn and walked away.

Finn looked questioningly at Radarr as the little guy scampered off down an alley.

Stork and Junko exited the store a second later with some goods in hand.

"That's the last of them." said Junko.

The two put the last of the load on the cart. Stork looked around.

"Where's Radarr?" he asked, the first to notice anything out of order.

Finn shrugged. "He just waved bye and left." He said simply.

"Must have gone for a walk," said Stork. "He can find his way back to the Condor, which is where we should go now."

He already began walking back in the direction of his ship.

"What?" said Finn. "C'mon we can't go back now!"

"Finn," said Stork turning around. Junko looked between them as they spoke. "Do you really want to lug these supplies all over Terra Muse?"

"Well, no but-"

"Then we go back to the ship." Said Stork, adding in his head, _and never leave again_.

Reluctantly, Finn followed as Stork and Junko headed back to their rides, and then the Condor.

* * *

****

A/N: What? You thought I'd make a valentine fic and not include the stalker hen? RadarrXStalkerHen FOREVER! lol

Anyways...I was actually planning on uploading chapter 3 for Episode 53 but for some reason it's not working. I don't know whether it's my computer or the website or 'just my luck' that's screwy right now. So instead I decided to upload another Fluff chap. I think it's more popular anyways...


	5. Sabotage

PART FIVE: Notes

"You first." Piper and Aerrow said in union, bringing out another awkward moment.

The frowned uncomfortably at each other.

"Let's just leave it," said Piper finally. "It doesn't matter what Finn said.

"You're right." said Aerrow . " We shouldn't get worked up over it."

Piper smiled and Aerrow returned it. The invisible wall that had been between was almost completely gone.

"So..." said Aerrow. "You want to go work on some battle strategies?"

"Sure." said Piper happily.

Finn, had he been there, would have rolled his eyes at this point, and commented something along the lines of '_lame_'.

But Finn wasn't there. Perhaps that was one of the reasons they were now enjoying themselves so much.

*****

Piper and Aerrow were leaning over a map, tracing their fingers along different routes, and marking different areas. It was work, but they enjoyed it. They would at some point, have to do it anyways, and it was usually their responsibility to plan out attacks.

"Are the guys coming back yet?" asked Piper.

Aerrow went over to look through the periscope. Through the tiny hole of vision, he scanned the skies and the hillside but saw no one.

"I don't see anyone," he said. He turned the scope to get more of a view. "Wait a minute..." Suddenly off to his far left he saw some bi-planes flying. He zoomed in for a better look. They weren't coming from the terra or even headed towards it. He zoomed in some more.

"_Cyclonians." _He stated distastefully.

"Cyclonians?" exclaimed Piper looking up from the map. "Here?"

"No, not here," said Aerrow swinging the periscope some more. "They're flying somewhere else. Back where we came from."

"We should follow them." said Piper determinedly.

"My thoughts exactly," said Aerrow putting the periscope away. "Can you contact the others?"

"I'll see." said Piper. Each of their rides had a radio built in but if they weren't turned on they wouldn't be able to communicate. Piper went to the helm and turned on the radio. "Stork, Junko, Finn, Radarr," she said listing their names. "This is Piper. Are you guys there?"

She waited for a reply but there was nothing but static.

****

"Junko! How could you forget where we parked?"

"I thought we were right here," said Junko defensively. "Why don't _you_ remember where we parked?'

"Cha! Do I have to do everything?" argued Finn.

Stork groaned and shook his head. Lost on a noisy terra with noisy people. The day just got better and better.

***

"Aerrow, I can't get a hold of them."

"Then we'll just have go ourselves," he said. "If we wait they'll get away. I'll leave a note, you get to the skimmer bay."

Piper nodded, and wasted no time in dawdling.

Aerrow meanwhile quickly found a piece of paper (A.K.A the back of a grocery list he found on the fridge) and wrote a quick note to the others:

_**Guys,**_

_**We spotted some Cyclonians headed southeast towards those terras we passed yesterday. We've gone after them on recon. Catch up quietly if you can.**_

_**Aerrow out.**_

He left the note in the center of the table than ran to catch up with Piper.

Aerrow found her standing in the skimmer bay fuming at her heliscooter. She turned sharply when he entered.

"I can't believe him!" she yelled fuming. "Of all the childish pranks!" In her hand a piece of paper was clutched tightly. Only after she turned did Aerrow notice something off about her heliscooter. It was sitting off balanced, with some small pieces of metal sitting on the ground around it.

Aerrow walked over and took the paper from her.

****

_**Dear Piper,**_

_**I'm afraid there'll be no little side trips for you today! You should just stay here and work on that 'experiment' of yours! I took the engine crystals with me so don't even try to fly it!**_

_**'Sincerely**_

_**Finn (chica-cha!)**_

Finn chuckled quietly to himself as he wrote the note, just before they had left the Condor.

"Finn I think this is a really bad idea," said Junko uncomfortably from behind. He glanced to Piper's mangled heliscooter.

"Cha, no it's not." said Finn finishing the note in his messy scrawl. "See?" he said holding up the note. "I wrote a note too so she knows."

"Yeah,' said Stork, who had never thought he would _underestimate_ Finn's stupidity. "So she knows _who to kill_." Not that Piper would need the note to figure out the identity of the saboteur.

"C'mon guys," said Finn light-heartedly. "It's just so she doesn't try running away."

"Try running away from what?" asked Junko.

"Oh just Cyclonians, Raptors, Vulca Bats, Murk Raiders or anything else that could possible attack the Condor." muttered Stork sarcastically. Finn was really taking it too far.

"Dude, nothing like that is gonna happen," said Finn who would never _purposefully_ try to endanger his friends. Besides, the Murk Raiders and Vulca Bats were no where in the area, and they rarely saw any Cyclonians or much of the Raptors anymore.

"Not to mention Piper can just use her bending-"

"Binding." corrected Junko and Stork.

"Yeah, binding whatever. She can just use that if they get attacked." (Which Finn thought was pretty unlikely since you'd have to be really stupid to attack Aerrow and Piper who were pretty much the most powerful duo in the Atmos thanks to the binding thing).

"_And," _he added aiming for brownie points, " I didn't even touch Aerrow's ride." He brought his hand from left to right to signify 'nothing'.

"Because if you did," said Stork unimpressed by Finn's so-called good act, "Radarr here would rip your arms off." He motioned with his thumb in the direction of Aerrow's skimmer. Radarr sat protectively on it while growling ferociously like a wild animal at Finn.

The message was simple: _Touch and you die._

Finn smiled sheepishly.

"Okay," he admitted. "So it's probably not a good idea to mess with a SkyKnights's ride."

"_Probably_?" Stork said a little scandalized.

Finn held up his hands. "I won't touch it. Promise."

Radarr stopped growling but watched patiently and closely from his spot while Finn happily got on his skimmer and, tossing one of the heliscooter's engine crystals in the air and catching it, set off.

Radarr then exchanged looks with Junko who was also thinking that Finn had taken things a little too far. He jumped on Junko's skimmer and they flew off after Finn and a grumbling Stork.

****

"I'm...gonna have to talk to him later." said Aerrow, shocked, and slightly angry at Finn's plain stupid actions. He was going to have to reprimand Finn for sabotaging Piper's scooter. "But right now we can't waste time. We'll just have to take my skimmer."

****

Seeing as Radarr's cockpit was rather small, Piper would have to crouch on it rather than actually sit in it- _which _brought up the question of how the Dark Ace, co-pilot for Lightning Strike, had ever managed to ride, and it was deducted that perhaps the tiny cockpit was why he had betrayed the Storm Hawks in the first place (one can only imagine how uncomfortable and stupid he must have felt crouched on a tiny engine with handle bars). It was, however, more likely that Lightning Strike must have simply spent a lot of time on _other people's _skimmers rather than flying his own.

So Piper flew with Aerrow, sitting behind him and holding onto his waist so she didn't fall off. By the time they left the Condor the Cyclonians had become dots in the sky.

"We'll follow them from afar," said Aerrow. "So they don't spot us."

"_Spotting us_ won't be a problem," said Piper pulling a crystal out of a pouch at her hip.

"A cloaking crystal?" asked Aerrow looking behind.

Piper smiled. A blue glow suddenly enveloped the whole skimmer then…nothing.

They were invisible to their enemies.

* * *

**A/N: You know that's probably is _why _the Dark Ace really betrayed the Storm Hawks. Just imagine him sitting on that little engine crouched up, thinking, _'I hate my job, I hate my job...'_**

**Aerrow really knows how to woo the ladies..."So..You wanna go work on some battle stratagies?" Oh yes that sounds so romantic!! **

**Hmm.. I'm running out of pre-written chaps so wait times just might be getting longer. Review plz! It makes me happy!**


	6. Scrap Metal

**PART SIX:**** Scrap Metal**

Junko was beginning to get tired of lugging the cart around.

"Can we take a break? This is the fourth street we've been down."

His stomach grumbled loudly. "Hey maybe we can get something to eat too." He sniffed the air wistfully. "Like whatever they're selling," he said pointing to a restaurant right next to them. The smells of food on the veranda of the 'Treble Chef' were making Junko's mouth water. He licked his lips.

Stork was looking anxiously among some crates in the restaurant's alley and bearing the label 'Treble Chef' , and looking up and down the street frantically.

"_It's got to be here somewhere!" _he said.

"Stork leave it," said Finn who was also getting annoyed. "This was the first street we came down! Our rides aren't here."

"But my tracker," said Stork holding up a small metal device with a blinking screen on it. "It's says that the Storkmobile is right here!" he motioned to the stack of wooden boxes.

"Hey!" called a figure from the veranda. The others looked up to a man dressed in chef's clothing. He had a slight accent.

"You wouldn't happen to be Storm Hawks would ya?"

They nodded. It was on their uniforms.

"Lookin fer yer rides?' he asked.

The team mates looked at each other.

Leading them through the crates to the back of the alley next to the restaurant's back porch (where the barbeque was taking place to Junko's delight), the chef revealed to them their rides sitting nicely at the very end of the alley.

The alley lead into a field and up a slight hill in the distance the Condor could be seen.

"Haha!" cried Stork who ran up and hugged his safety buggy. _"I knew it." _

Junko and Finn also cheered, happy at finally finding their rides.

The man explained their shipment of Tekas Borc steaks and Shrime sauce was usually dumped at the front of the alley so he and his employees had to move their rides to the back where they had attracted a certain amount of attention from the diners on the back porch.

"Thanks for keeping them safe," said Junko to the chef while Stork was already jumping in the seat of the Stork mobile. "By the way.." Junko just couldn't help himself. "What's tonight's special?"

Stork sighed tiredly at the table on the Treble Chef's back veranda. He looked over the hill towards his Condor in distance and whimpered slightly. _So close_…he thought sadly. All he wanted to do was get back to the Condor but _noooo_. Junko just _had_ to try the Klopnac special.

Although, even he had to admit, it smelt pretty good.

A strong-looking teenager, the waitress, came over to the table smiling. She had freckles on her face and light mousy hair kept back with a pony tail.

"So Storm hawks," she said holding a little note pad up. "What can I get for ya?"

_Some time with you would be just fine, _thought Finn . But before he had the chance to use his cheesy pick-up line, Junko made his order.

Junko got the Klopnac special, Stork ordered a salad (make sure to check for any Wheetles in the leaves), and Finn got the fry and burger combo.

When the waitress had finished writing the orders down, she asked, "Anything else?"

"How about your name and number?" asked Finn pointing both hands like guns.

Junko and Stork sighed.

The waitress looked taken aback.

"Umm… sorry, but were out of those." she said and walked away.

Finn was in shock. Rejection never went well for him. His mouth hung open dumbly. A curious little fly saw this opening and took the chance to explore and Finn spent the next five minutes choking on the insect.

"Just like I thought," said Aerrow as they watched the Talons land on the terra they had stopped at recently. It wasn't so much as one terra but a close cluster of them, each very small and overgrown with vegetation. "I figured they were headed here."

"But why?" said Piper as the skimmer landed not far behind the Talons. "We already searched this terra. All we found was some low grade Glow and Lunar crystal caves. And well," she amended, " some Iris crystals too."

Out of his peripheral vision, Aerrow noticed Piper smile and felt his own lips twitch up at the sides.

"Well maybe that's all there is," he said.

"Or they'll find something we didn't. Quick stop!"

Up ahead the Cyclonians had driven some ways into the brush but had suddenly stopped. Aerrow slowed and pulled up quietly keeping a safe distance. They could just barely make out what they were saying.

"-ight here," said one in the lead holding up a device similar to Piper's crystal scope only more complicated looking. " Were not far now. Follow me."

"Gladly," muttered Aerrow following in pursuit of the six Talons.

They roared through undergrowth, always keeping a mindful distance, but Aerrow's skimmer was built for stealth so they were able to get pretty close.

All the time Piper was thinking what they could have possibly missed. Her crystal scope hadn't detected anything very powerful. And the team had searched some of the terra too, but nothing out of the ordinary…

Finn stared in shock as the waitress walked away to the kitchen. In the corner of his eye he could see Stork slightly grinning and letting out a small chuckle. Finn turned his attention on him and gave him a somewhat murderous look.

"What are you laughing at?" He spat at the Merb.

"Ohhh nothing. Nothing at all." The Merb replied.

Finn slowly slouched in his chair and crossed his arms.

"She was probably just taken, that's all." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Uh huh," Stork mumbled with a sarcastic tint in his voice before he turned his head to glance at his beloved in the distance.

"Don't worry Finn, I bet you'll find another girl at the dance tonight" Junko said to Finn in a comforting voice. The mention of the Singles Dance tonight brought Finn straight out of his misery as he began to brag about all the cute girls who would be swarming around him tonight.

"Maybe a blonde, they're always cute." he said. "Tall, blue eyes. Maybe a brunette though. Who says I can't have both though right?"

Stork, obviously annoyed about Finns arrogance and bragging, turned his attention towards him.

"Finn you couldn't get a date to save your life!" Stork yelled loudly.

Finn stared frozen for a second in place and slowly turned his head towards Stork. A few other people had looked up from their conversations to see where the sudden out burst came from.

Finn scoffed. "What?" He said sharply.

"You heard me." Stork said callously. "You think you're _soooo _great with the ladies. But you're just a big joke!" Stork was standing now. Finn, now really ticked off stood up to match Storks height and clenched his fists.

" Mhmm. That coming from the guy who's only girlfriend is a piece of scrap metal!"

Stork gasped loudly.

"_Scrap…metal_?" he quietly repeated, tightening his fists. His eye twitched. He exploded.

" HOW _DARE _YOU CALL THE CONDOR A PIECE OF SCRAP METAL!" He yelled furiously. "I BET YOU WON'T GET A SINGLE DATE TONIGHT, LET ALONE GET A GIRL'S PHONE NUMBER!" Stork burst, waving his arms around rapidly.

"Umm guys, could you keep your voices down. Your making a scene." said Junko bashfully. Junko was right. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and were staring at Finn and Stork. But Finn and Stork acted as if Junko wasn't even there.

"Is that a challenge?" Finn said irately.

"No, it's a song Finn." Stork said sarcastically. "Yes, it's challenge!"

"Fine!" said Finn. " If I can get a date before midnight tonight then you have to do everything I say for a week and refer to me as Master Sharp Shooter." Finn remarked with a sly smile.

"Fine," Stork unthinkingly replied, "_But_ if you don't get a date before midnight-"

"Which won't happen." Finn rudely interrupted confidently.

Stork sneered.

"But _if_ you don't get a date before midnight then you can't play, listen, or sing any of your so called rock music."

Finn scoffed loudly, surprised by how serious of a wager that was.

Stork smiled. "For. A. Month."

Finn paled. _A whole month of no rock? How will I live, how will I ever be able to cope without my rock? How will I ever…_

"But if you don't think you can do it_…_" Stork began.

This jolted Finn back from his daze.

" Deal." Finn said fiercely, bringing up his hand so they could shake on it.

"Umm… you guys really shouldn't be-" Junko started but was cut off.

"It's a deal." Stork replied as he pulled a glove out of his pocket, put it on his left hand with a snap and shook hands with Finn. Their eyes were locked, Stork's glazed with amusement and Finn with determination. Ripping their hands from each other they sat back down at the same time in silence.

At this point the waitress returned placing the trays on the table.

"So then..." she said casually smiling. "I take it you boys will be at the Singles' Dance tonight?"

"Got that right." said Finn.

The waitress smiled slyly. "Well I'll be sure to tell all my friends' that the Storm Hawks are coming to the dance. Or is it just you?" she said to Finn.

"They're coming," he said eyeing Stork and Junko daring them to say otherwise.

"Oh I'll be there alright," said Stork. "Ready to watch you lose our bet."

The waitress chuckled. Then looked expectantly at Junko.

"Will _you_ be there?"

"Oh," said Junko. "Yeah, I guess."

" Well, would it be okay if you missed it?" The waitress asked playfully.

"Huh?" Junko said dumbfounded. Finn looked surprised was about to say something but was interrupted by the waitress.

" Because I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Valentine's Dance with me." She said hopefully.

Finn's jaw dropped open.

"Oh," said Junko looking really surpsied and blushing slightly. "Um.. I'd love too. Oh- if its okay with you guys." He said tuning to the other two Storm Hawks. Finn was about to protest, but Stork covered Finn's mouth with his hand and spoke for him.

"Sure that's fine Junko. You go ahead." Stork said amused, mostly due to Finn's irritation. Finn ripped Stork's hand away. "Hey-"

"Great," said the waitress. "Name's Cardinal. Meet me back here at seven. Kay?"

Junko blushed more. "Okay." he said.

"See you then." She said happily. With that she turned to go but not before winking flirtatiously at him.

Finn looked from Junko to Cardinal jaw open.

"Cardinal." said Junko dreamily. "That's a pretty name."

Finn was staring open-mouthed at where the waitress had been standing a minute ago, already forgetting that he shouldn't leave his mouth open (he could choke on another fly) when and Stork leaned over to him and whispered.

"She was probably just _taken_, eh?"

* * *

**A/N: Ohh romance for Junko? He rarely gets any so I figured I'd deal him some hearts:) Btw StormyReader21's story the **_**The Treble Clefs**_** gets it's name form the 'Treble Chef'. That is, I came up with the Treble Chef before the Treble Clefs name. Not the other way around. Believe it or not this was written first. Speaking of StormyReader21 she pretty much wrote the whole challenge scene and came up with Finn and Stork dare. kudos to her.**


	7. Piper and Aerrow In a Cave Together

**Part Seven:Piper and Aerrow. In a cave. Together...**

The Talons stood in front of a large cavern in the cliff side, their vehicles parked off to the side. Their commander held up the crystal scope which pinged.

"This is it." he said and he proceeded inward followed by the others.

Aerrow and Piper watched quietly from behind some dense bushes. Aerrow's skimmer was parked a little father back.

Aerrow was looking at the cave when he realized something seemed very familiar about it.

"That's where I found the Iris crystal," whispered Aerrow looking at the opening. "The cave's full of them. But what would the Cyclonians want with Iris crystals?"

Piper shrugged and stood up. She spoke as she walked toward the cave. "Maybe they want to use them as poison." She said looking into the mouth of cave. Aerrow walked up beside her.

"That," he said, " Or they're making a _really _big chandelier."

Piper smiled then looked back into the cave. "Let's find out."

"Won't they see us?" asked Aerrow. It didn't seem wise to him to simple walk up behind the talons.

Piper tapped the pouch at her hip. "Cloaking crystal, remember ?" she said. "We just have to be quiet."

"But..uh..I can see you." he said. He could also see himself. But weren't they suppose to invisible?

Piper rolled her eyes. "Of course you can. Remember when Cyclonis used a cloaking crystal of a fleet of Talons? Well they had to be able to see the rest of their team or else they would have run into each other. Although," she admitted smiling, "they pretty much do that anyways."

"Oh." Aerrow responded dumbly. "that makes sense."

Then, carefully, making each step as quiet and as light as a falling feather, they made their way into the darkened cave.

But the cave was not entirely dark. There was a small unsteady blue light up ahead moving away from them (no doubt the Talon's torch light). The Cyclonian's voices were hushed whispers.

"Not much farther," whispered Aerrow.

"Not much farther to what?" asked Piper. Aerrow didn't answer- just smiled from what she could see in the dim light.

But the light was getting brighter. Not the torch light. Another one.

The cave tunnel opened up into a large vast dome. They heard the Cyclonians gasp up ahead, their bodies becoming silhouettes in a far brighter light. Piper froze. What did they see? Was there danger?

Then one of them spoke.

"It's really…er..pretty."

For a second the Cyclonians stood there gazing at something Piper and Aerrow could not see. They waited close behind.

"Alright, alright," said one of the Cyclonians, probably the leader. "Quit your ogling, and get to work."

The Talons grumbled and slowly trudged forward disappearing around the edges of the cave wall. Aerrow motioned her to move forward. Carefully, she and Aerrow walked toward the opening. There was a bright flash when they passed over the threshold and they had to shut their eyes. Stepping a couple more steps , the light dimmed and they blinked open their eyes. Piper gasped, but the Cyclonians didn't seem to notice. They had already spread themselves around the edges of the cavern.

The cavern. It glittered.

It was more crystal than rock. Large shards, stalagmites and stalactites all made of luminescent Iris crystal, were rising from the black stone in every direction .

Large chunks of the ceiling were crystal as well. Sunlight from the topside soared through the crystals in the ceiling. The sunlight was split by the stones, twisted and divided into rainbow coloured daggers of light. Then, those daggers of light shot into Iris crystals on the walls and floors and was further split and twisted, till the whole room shone with colourful light.

Pretty, one of the Cyclonians had said. Pretty was an understatement.

"It's beautiful," whispered Piper breathlessly.

Aerrow smiled. "Yeah," he agreed quietly.

The moment was interrupted by a loud clang off to the side of the cavern. One of the Cyclonians had hit a large chunk of crystal off the wall using a large crystal charged hammer. It clattered to the ground.

"Careful!" shouted the leader. "Don't use that." he pointed to the hammer. "Use a regular one." The leader picked up a plain hammer and threw it underhand at the Talon.

The Cyclonian jumped as the hammer flew at him and he narrowly dodged it. It whacked into a crystal mound behind him. Aerrow recognized the Cyclonian. He had greenish hair and a distinct green moustache.

"You!" the commander suddenly shouted pointing at Aerrow. Aerrow jumped, afraid he'd been spotted. Then he remembered that he was invisible. The leader was speaking to a Talon across the other side of the room. He was looking through Aerrow not at him. Aerrow and Piper turned around to look at the other Talon who saluted (not at them but at the commander on the other side of them).

"Call headquarters," he said. "tell them we've found the mother load."

Aerrow looked at Piper.

"We can't let them bring in back up," he whispered.

Piper nodded, and put her hand into her bag, reaching for the cloaking crystal…

*************

"Cyclonians." said Stork staring at Aerrow's note. The rest of the Storm Hawks, minus Radarr, had returned to the Condor and were now at the bridge inspecting Aerrow's impromptu note.

Stork sighed tiredly.

_**Guys,**_

_**We spotted some Cyclonians headed southeast towards those terras we passed yesterday. We've gone after them on recon. Catch up quietly if you can. **_

_**Aerrow out.**_

"Guess we gotta go after them." said Junko looking over Stork's shoulder.

"_Oh come on," _said Finn exasperatedly waving his hand dismissively.

Stork and Junko looked questioningly at him.

Finn put his hands on his sides and scoffed. "You guys don't really believe that do you?"

Their eyebrows raised.

"Umm…Why would Aerrow lie about going after some Cyclonians ?" asked Junko innocently.

Finn rolled his eyes. "Cyclonians, yeah right!"

Stork frowned breathing out heavily. "Well then Finn," he said irritably, "What _do_ _you _think they're doing?" Not that he really wanted to know.

Finn smiled slyly. _"They're on a date of course."_

Stork's shook his head slowly and frowned.

_**It so figures …**_

Junko looked from Stork to Finn.

"But the note said to go after them." said Junko.

Finn stuttered. "Umm well, that's just a er, um, -yeah well it's not like they need our help!" He said. "I mean lets face it. What's a couple of Cyclonians versus Piper and Aerrow right?"

Stork crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

"Besides," said Finn. _"We've _got to get ready for the dance!" he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sure they'll understand." he said coolly.

"GAhh!" yelled Stork flinging his arms into the air. He gave Finn the death stare from under his long flop of black hair and growled. "That's it!" he yelled and stamped his foot. " I've had enough of this!" He stalked up toward Finn glaring. "I have been _patiently_ waiting for this stupidity to end but _nooooo_ - you just go on and on! When will you get it? They _are not _dat-_**squish**_- huh?"

Stork and Finn simultaneously looked down at the floor. There, under Stork's right foot was a large piece of mashed chocolate that oozed over his toes.

Slimy, runny, hive-causing chocolate.

"Gahha!" he yelled pulling up his foot with such force that he flew onto his back and landed loudly on the floor. "Get it off!" He yelled. He shook his foot vigorously. "Get. It. OFF!" Bits of gooey chocolate splattered all over.

All over Finn.

"Ah! My hair!" He tried to shelter his head.

All over Junko. He took his finger and wiped a bit off his face then put his finger in his mouth. "Hmmm," he said licking his lips. "Milk chocolate."

Stork crawled over to a wall and unlocked a hatch labelled, 'Emergency First Aid'. Quickly he snatched out a small towel and started to whip the mushy chocolate off of his foot. All the while Finn was complaining about his hair and how he was going to have to have to wash his hair again and again. Stork started spraying himself with an aerosol can from the first aid kit. He stood up.

"I blame this all on you, you know that." Stork yelled irritably at Finn, pointing his finger in Finn's face.

"Good. I deserve credit for getting Piper and Aerrow together." Finn said smiling proudly. Stork sneered.

" I wasn't talking about that. And Piper and Aerrow are not _together." _Stork replied.

" Yes, they are. They're off on their date, and if you knew better, you would know not to go after them." Finn said as if he knew everything.

"They are not on a date! They are after Cyclonians! And if _you knew _better you would _know _we should go after them and help." Stork shot back.

"I think Stork's right Finn. If there are Cyclonians we should go and help." Junko said, still licking off chocolate from his hand.

"Junko! You can't seriously be taking his side. And what about Radarr! We can't just leave him out on a whole terra alone. He could get lost ,or, whatever. What would Aerrow say if we showed up with no Radarr?" Finn said trying to use logic.

"Fine. You stay here and Junko and I can go after them." Stork replied, sure he had won the argument. Finn looked at the Junko and Stork thinking desperately of something to say.

"But… but." Finn stuttered. "What about Junko's date!? He'll be late. I mean, what would Cardinal say?" Finn spat.

"Well." Junko mumbled, seeing the truth in Finns words. " He's got a point Stork. If I went, I wouldn't make it back in time for my date." Junko said somewhat downcast about abandoning his friends.

"Well then, you can stay. I'll go." Stork said turning around.

Finn chuckled. Stork looked over his shoulder.

" What's so funny?" Stork asked irritably.

" You _think _you'd actually be any help." Finn said rudely. Stork was taken aback, and reminded himself that Finn was just playing with his head so he'd stay.

"C'mon Stork," Finn coaxed. " You'd probably just hold them back. With what the binding and all, you would probably just get in the way. I mean, you'll end up getting captured." Stork paled at the thought of being captured. Finn continued. " And think about how dangerous it is to go alone." Finn pretended to gasp, like he'd suddenly realized something. "_What if there's an ambush? _All those terras we passed," he shook his head, " _who knows _what lives on them. The creatures. The _disease." _Stork's face went sickly pale. He gulped at the thought of being attacked. He thought of the perils of searching uninhabited terras by himself. All the diseases such terras held. He shivered.

"So really Stork," Finn concluded, "the odds of survival are minimal."

_He's right. _Stork thought. _Traveling alone. I might not even make it to Piper and Aerrow. NO! No! It's a trick. Finn's messing with my head. He just wants - but the disease. Uh. Well…Piper and Aerrow do have the binding. I guess they don't need any back up. So I guess it wouldn't hurt anyone if I just stayed on the Condor._

Finn smiled slyly as he noticed Stork seemed to be mulling things over.

"Well?" Finn asked questionably.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt anyone if I stayed here. They are pretty powerful," Stork started, still trying to convince himself. Finn's face broke out into a grin.

"No!" Stork yelled, remembering that Finn was just playing with his head. " They're our friends Finn. We can't abandon them. For all we know something **terrible **might have happened to them."

"I guess Cardinal wouldn't mind if I was late, if I told her what happened." Junko said, knowing Stork was right.

"What!? Oh C'mon." Finn yelled. He almost had them right where he wanted! " You guys can't possi -_**STATIC**__-_" Finn started but was cut off by the buzz of the Condor's radio.

" _**Come in. Aerrow here. Are you guys there?" **_The radio buzzed.

"Aerrow!" Stork said shocked. Talk about timing. " Are you and Piper all right?"

"_**Yeah were fine. Did you get our note?" **_Aerrow asked.

"Sure did." said Finn. "Are you two lovebirds having fun?" he asked obnoxiously.

"_**What?! Finn! This is serious." **_This time it was Piper's voice.

"Heh. I _know." _Finn said slyly. Aerrow was about to say something but Junko interrupted.

"Do you guys need back up?"

"_**Uh. No. It's okay. We've already got it under control."**_

" Okay. Have fun." Finn said playfully.

" _What do you mean have-" _Aerrow started, but Finn turned off the radio. He turned to face Stork and Junko.

" Told you so." Finn said mockingly. "Now you won't miss out on the dance tonight."

Stork grimaced.

"I mean, you of all people should have a front row seat to see me winning our little bet." Finn said proudly.

" You mean a front row seat to you losing our bet." Stork corrected.

" Oh Stork." Finn said as if he were speaking to a child. " I'll have a date within the hour."

Stork rolled his eyes.

"Yo Junko. What time is it?" Finn shouted over to Junko.

"Uhh. Six." Junko said after glancing at the clock.

"SIX!?" Finn said shocked. "That's barely enough time to do my nails-"

Stork and Junko raised an eyebrow.

"Er, hair! I meant to say hair!"

* * *

**A/N:**

**Sorry I didn't post last week. I got stuck at the chocolate flying everywhere part. Luckily, my ever so helpful editor, StormyReader21, decided to help and she wrote on from there and then I edited bits. And I must admit, I am quite impressed by Finn's manipulation speech that she typed up. Figures my sis would be so good at manipulation...perhaps I should let her write some lines for Cyclonis hmmm? Hoped you liked! Comments are always appreaciated!**


	8. Cheating

Part 8: Cheating

_It had been way to easy to take down the Cyclonians._

Piper and Aerrow stood outside the cave looking down at the Talons tied up tightly to two trees.

They'd just gotten off the radio with the others and were now trying to figure out what to with the Cyclonians.

***

"_Call headquarters," he said. "tell them we've found the mother load."_

_Aerrow looked at Piper. _

"_We can't let them bring in back up," he whispered._

"_Time to reveal ourselves then," Piper said and smiled. Piper reached into her pouch and touched the Cloaking crystal._

There was a faint blue light that illuminated their bodies for a second. Aerrow looked down at his hands then over at Piper, but he could see no difference in his appearance.

The Cyclonians could.

"Hey!" One shouted spotting them. The Talons all turned, looks of shock and anger twisting on their faces.

"How'd you get in here!?"

"Get them!" the Commander shouted.

Nine Talons came leaping at them from all directions. Well, seven technically. Two actually tripped over their own feet.

Aerrow and Piper leapt to different sides of the cave, flipping out of the way. The Talons crashed into each other at the center. Aerrow and Piper brought out their weapons and faced inward at the mass of purple-red suits. The Talons quickly got up (except for the one at the bottom who had been profoundly squished by his team mates) and divided up, some charging Piper's way some charging at Aerrow.

Aerrow used his blades and threw a small blast at the advancing Talons and Piper did like wise with her staff. Some Talons dodged.

Others…well they landed on the butts.

Like synchronized dancers (or perhaps a better word is _attuned_) they landed back in the middle, facing opposite directions. The Talons that had not landed on their butts (or been squished by their team mates) began advancing once more.

One Talon, with his heavy metal a hammer in hand, stopped suddenly, puzzlement then realization on his face.

This particular Talon was the same Cyclonian with the green and moustache that Aerrow had recognized earlier. His name was Charles, although no one had ever bothered to ask.

He recognize the fighters. The symbol on their backs.

"_The Storm Hawks?" _He said, voice tinged with fear.

The other Talons paused, looked at Charles, looked back at Piper and Aerrow and seeing that they were indeed the Storm Hawks, suddenly backed up, murmuring, clearly afraid.

The Commander looked taken aback. "Storm Hawks?"

Aerrow and Piper, who were quite confused now, looked at him.

He dropped on to floor hands spread out in front, face to the dirt.

"We surrender!"

The rest of the Cyclonians briefly looked at each other, and then also dropped down kneeling, staffs and hammers clanging to the ground.

Aerrow and Piper straightened a little and looked perplexedly at each other.

They..._surrendered???_

"Wait," said Aerrow looking down at the blond Commander. The Commander cautiously tilted his head up. "You're just gonna .._give up?"_

The Cyclonian raised and hand and pointed at them. "You're Aerrow and Piper of the Storm Hawks right? Defeated the likes of Snipe and Ravess?"

They nodded slightly.

"Took down the Dark Ace and Cyclonis?"

They nodded again.

"_Yeah," _he said. _"We surrender."_

****

_Oh yes, _thought Piper irritably. They surrendered alright_- but they wouldn't co-operate!_

"Now tell us what you want the Iris crystals for!"

The Commander Cyclonian stuck up his nose. "_Hmmph."_

Piper growled. This was getting nowhere.

Aerrow sighed. "So you're not gonna fight us-"

The Commander nodded.

"- but you won't tell us what you plan to use the Iris crystals for?"

The Commander nodded once more.

"You know that kinda contradicts the whole 'surrender' thing."

"The worst you can do," said the Cyclonian, "Is throw us in jail. Failure to comply with the regulations of our mission - including totally confidentiality whether in the case of failure or success - will result in far more severe consequences."

"Wow Commander," said the Cyclonain next to him, "did you memorize that from the book-"

"Shut up!- And yes, actually, I did."

Piper and Aerrow looked at each other frowning.

"Listen," said Aerrow, turning back to the Cyclonians, "If you tells us what you want the Iris crystals for, then we promise no harm will come to you. No one will ever know you told us."

The Commander eyed him for a moment in consideration. The other Talons nervously watched their leader to see his response.

A moment passed.

"_Hmmph."_

_*******_

While Finn's friends were off arguing with Cyclonians, he was working on more _aesthetical _issues.

Yes, he was doing his nails.

He'd read in one of his magazines (no it was not Seventeen! So what if SideStreet Boys were on the front cover along with a special exclusive interview with Bessie McCarton - which in Finn's opinion hadn't been all that special-? He'd only bought it for the 'Be a Rockstar' article anyways. ) that doing your nails was great way to get chicks. According to the magazine the third most common thing girls couldn't stand about guys was poor cuticles. Who wants to hold hands with a guy who bites his nails?

Anyways, Finn was filing his nails when suddenly the door flew open and Stork jumped through.

"Aha!" he cried pointing his finger.

Finn screamed (like a girl) and jumped out of his chair, throwing his filer into the air. It spun up and lodged itself into the ceiling with a whack.

Upon seeing that it was Stork who had burst into his room, Finn angrily rose from the floor.

"Hey you can't just burst into my room!" He said.

"Oh I just thought I'd check in on you to see if you were really fixing your hair." said Stork grinning. "But you're still doing your nails so I'll just leave now…"

"I was _not _doing my nails." said Finn indignantly, folding his arms across his chest.

_Whop._

The nail filer fell out of the ceiling and landed on the floor in front of Finn's feet.

Stork and Finn looked at the filer and then at each other.

"That would be a nail filer." said Stork.

"So?" said Finn thoroughly embarrassed, " Doesn't mean I was using it! Now if you'll excuse me-" he said walking past Stork. " _I'm_ going to go wash my hair."

Stork turned to watch as Finn strode down the hallway and grinned.

Now, some of you may not see the point of Stork popping in on Finn to see whether he was doing his nails or not. But you see, Stork did not really care whether if Finn was actually doing his nails (he himself had his own nail kit lodged away in his room -_What? _Don't you know _how_ _many germs _get stuck under your cuticles?).

No. This had nothing to do with hand care at all.

Stork chuckled queitly to himself and, from his back pocket, pulled out an empty bottle of pink hair dye that they had bought a while back to make Piper look like Ravess.

Oh _yes_, it was cheating. Horribly unfair. But desperate times called for desperate measures. Everything Finn said for a week? Master Sharp Shooter? Finn might be pathetic, but some girl was bound to make a judgement mistake. No- he could not lose this bet. By the time Finn realized someone had dumped dye into his special shampoo, it would be too late.

Stork whistled happily as he walked back to the helm.

20 minutes later…

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry this is a little later than usually. Quite busy lately. Anyways, big THANK YOU for all the reviews so far. You guys are great! Also a big thank-you to my sis and editor in chief StormyReader21 . This story would not exist without her.**

**BTW I did not make up the name Charles for the green-moustache guy (you must know who I'm talking about, he pops up all the time). I was watching a youtube video of a Storm hawks Q&A panel (part 2 I think?) thing and a girl in the crowd announced that she had gotten tired of calling him moustache guy and started calling him Charles instead. **

**"Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go wash my hair!" **

**Yes, Finn, like you really needed to announce that.**


	9. Pink

**A/N: Hehe plz don't kill me for taking so long to upload. In fact, I just finished writing this chap today. For the longest time I just wasn't feelin g the Fluff but towards the end , I have to admit, I started to enjoy this ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 9:Pink**

"_What. Did . You. Do?!"_

_Stomp. Stomp. Stomp._

Angry, _half-naked, _and dripping water all over the floor, Finn came marching onto the bridge as unstoppable as a train on a one way track. He wore nothing but two towels. One around his waist, one wrap around his head.

Stork was humming to himself blissfully, sitting on a chair resting his feet on the helm, and flipping through his Merbian Darkness Poetry book. He didn't even look up.

Finn walked over and grabbed the book out of Stork's hands and tossed it behind him.

"Well that was rude." said Stork nonchalantly, turning to the towel clad sharpshooter.

"You!" he shouted finger pointed too close to Stork' face.

"Yes?" he asked innocently.

"You!" Finn shouted again.

"Me!" Stork shouted back standing up.

"You!"

"Me!"

"Look what you did!" and with that Finn pulled off the towel.

.

..

...

....

The one on his head, I mean.

Stork nearly burst out laughing. He snorted, almost doubling over. He covered his hand over his mouth then removed it, and bit his bottom lip to keep from exploding.

Finn's hair was pink.

Not like Ravess' hair though. Nor a magenta purple-pink that might have passed as moderately acceptable under the circumstances.

It was a rose pink. A medium level pink. An undeniable pink pink.

Somehow the dye had reacted oddly with Finn's normal shampoo creating an adverse reaction . And a unintended shade of pink.

"Nice hair," Stork managed, sounding gagged.

Finn growled.

"No really," Stork insisted leaning on the helm to keep from falling over. "It suits you."

Finn grabbed Stork by the shoulders in an uncharacteristic act of brutality.

"_Bet's off!" _Then Finn let go and began marching away.

"What, you're just gonna quit?" said Stork straightening up.

Finn turned around. "You cheated!"

Stork tried to look uncaring. He cleared his throat. " Can you _actually_ prove that ?"

"Of course! You died my hair pink so I wouldn't be able to get a date tonight!"

Stork scratched his face with his finger. "Soooo...you're saying you can't get a date just because your hair is pink?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Finn, then catching the double tine in Stork voice, "Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well," said Stork shrugging, "I just think it's kind of sad that you don't think you can get date if you're hair's pink- like what? Your hair's the only attractive thing about you? But I _suppose_ if you don't think you have enough charm to get a date even with the hair-"

"Hey! I have charm- I can still totally get a date!"

"Good." said Stork walking past Finn. "Then the bet's still on."

"Dang right the bet's still on!" Shouted Finn as Stork walked away. The he realized what he said. "I mean- argh! No- I didn't-ugh! Stork!" But Stork had already left.

"Ohhh," Finn groaned "What do I do? What do I do?" he beat his fists against his skull. The hitting must have whacked his brain into function because he suddenly got an idea.

"Piper's crystals!" he exclaimed. "She bound to have something!" Didn't she and Aerrow use a Chrome crystal or something when they were pretending to be cadets at the Talon Academy? Maybe if he used the right crystal he could make his hair blond again- or at least a different colour, until the night was over.

Excited for his new plan Finn set off towards Piper's room- entirely forgetting that he was strictly not allowed in it whenever Piper wasn't around.

Psh.

Like Finn ever did what Piper told him to.

***

Piper and Aerrow watched quietly as the tied up Talons were taken away by the Terra Muse Squadron and police force. They'd already talked to Police guard and explained the situation- how the Cyclonians had been after the Iris crystals and that the cave that was full of them would probably need guarding. Of course there had also been that awkward moment of having to explain that they didn't actually know why the Cyclonians wanted the Iris crystals- the best guess so far remained the idea of a one mongo chandelier.

"So.. What do we do now?" Aerrow asked looking over at Piper.

Piper shrugged. "Well, everything's taken care of here. Guess we should head back."

The two of them hopped on Aerrow's skimmer and took off. Lifting up from the cluster of terras, they soared higher into the sky back in the direction of terra Muse- but not before something caught Aerrow's eye. Near the cloud level, the stems of the many small terras became riddled with holes and caves- _like swiss cheese. _It looked like an absolute maze, near impossible to navigate through.

_Near_ impossible.

"How about we take an a little detour...?" Aerrow suggested.

"No." Stated Piper who had already caught on to his idea. Some of those holes were definitely not big enough to fit a skimmer through.

"Oh c'mon," he insisted. "It'll be fun."

"Aerrow there's absolutely noooooOOOO-ahhhh." Piper yelled as the skimmer dipped dramatically curving through the air. Aerrow had taken them into a full-on dive toward the rocks.

"Aaaaeerrroooww!"

***

"It's gotta be one of them…" Finn scratched his pink head looking down at the assortment of crystals of he had found around Piper room. Each crystal had been pulled from one of the numerous cases and piles around Piper's room.

There were two groups laid out in front of him.

Group 1) Crystals that might be the Chrome crystal

Group 2)Crystals that probably weren't the Chrome crystal

Finn picked up a red-orange crystal and looked closely at it. He held it out and shut his eyes and waited for it to activate.

After less than seven seconds of doing that, Finn got impatient and shook the crystal violently. To Finn's delight, the crystal began to glow- to his displeasure, it began to get hot. Very hot.

Too hot to hold, he tossed the crystal to his other hand- but it burned that too, so his tossed it back again, but every time it touched his hand it burned. He juggled the crystal barely managing to catch it each time till finally- he didn't. The crystal plopped down onto Piper's bed.

A little flame erupted.

Finn screamed, and desperately looked around the room for a glass of water or something. No such luck. He bent down and picked a blue crsytal. Blue for water right? He shook it hoping it would also actviate.

"C'mon! Do something you dumb-"

The crystal flashed brightly blinding Finn. When he opened his eyes the fire was still burning but now there was a pile of white things all over the room.

"_Flowers?" _he gaped. Useless flowers?

A second flame erupted bringing Finn back to the current situation at hand. There were some other blue crystals he could try, but he didn't know how to work any of them. What if they were all flowers? _Magnolias_ weren't going to help much.

In fact the wettest thing in the room was-

"Oh man…"

***

Junko and Stork headed cautiously to Piper's room. Finn's screaming had caught their attention. They knocked twice-

"Umm is everything alright? " asked Junko. "We heard-"

The door hissed open.

"screaming…?"

Finn was whacking on the dead flame on Piper's bed with the wet towel. Smoke faintly billowed up from the spot.

It is important to remember at this point that Finn had only had one towel on him when he had come into Piper's room. One towel that _had_ been _on _him.

Mind you, had anyone been viewing this particular scene, I don't know, _say _on _television_ for example, it would have been shown from the perspective of looking over from behind Stork and Junko, who would be simultaneously blocking the view of Finn's er…unclothed-ness.

_Just so you know._

Spotting his onlookers, Finns paused, screamed and whipped the towel over himself, covering his dignity. His face was nearly as pink as his hair.

Stork and Junko looked on , deeply disturbed. Stork cleared his throat. "I _don't _want to know."

"Umm, what are you doing Finn?" asked Junko. ""And....why is your hair..._pink_? "

"He dyed it!" Finn pointed at Stork ( his hands were free again seeing as he had managed to wrap the towel back around is waist). "And I came in here looking for a Chrome crystal so I could change it back!"

"Sooo, how does setting Piper's bed on fire help?" Questioned Stork.

"That was an accident!"

Stork looked at the pile of crystals on the floor. He bent down and picked up a opaque, but colourful crystal. "_This_ is a Chroma crystal." he said. Finn hastily made a grab for it but Stork pulled it out of reach.

"Uh-uh-uh. " he said mocked waving a finger. "You should really wait till Piper comes back, so you can ask her if you can use it. And then you can tell her what happened to her bed." Stork smiled.

Finn grind his teeth together. He _needed_ that crystal. _Now. _Stork just wanted him to look like an idiot at the dance so he would lose the bet. Cheater.

"Give it here Stork." he said.

"Ummm….." Stork pretended to think about it_. "No."_

Finn narrowed his eyes. "Hand. It. Over!" he suddenly leapt at Stork colliding with him on the floor.

"Hey guys don't fight." said Junko trying to pull them apart but somehow he got sucked into the mess and all three of them were fighting on the floor, tangled up, trying to make a grab for the crystal. The crystal, in all the chaos, flew out of the jumble and went twirling through the air .

All three faces moved in sync as they watched it's slow-motion graceful descent. Right onto Piper's desk and onto her mobile, where it collided with the sparkling Iris crystal- and promptly exploded in a blast of light that left all of them seeing sunspots for a good five minutes.

"Nice one." commented Stork when he could see again.

"It was your fault!" argued Finn, getting up and going to observe the damage. _Nothing too serious I hope_, he thought as he hesitantly approached the desk.

Finn picked up both crystals.

"Well?" asked Junko. "What happened?"

Finn grimaced still looking at the crystals in his hands. "Good news; the crystals are both intact." he said.

"And _the bad news_?" asked Stork who was always more concerned with the bad news.

"Bad news?" Finn turned around to face the others holding out both crystals. "I don't know which crystal's which."

Two identical Chroma crystals glittered in each hand.

"Quick!" said Finn beginning to panic. " Help me figure out the real one before-"

The intercom buzzed suddenly, and Aerrow's voice sounded over the speakers.

"_Aerrow here. Were back. You guys want to open the doors for us?"_

Junko and Stork looked at Finn.

"-they…get ..back." Finn finished lamely cringing. He sighed tiredly. "This day can't get any worse."

His towel fell to the ground.

"I stand corrected."


	10. Vegetarian

Chapter 10: Vegetarian

You could hear Aerrow and Piper talking before you could see them.

"If you_ ever _try that again-" Piper said. " I swear…." but she was laughing as she said it.

Aerrow looked pleased with himself. " You have to admit- it was pretty fun!"

"Fun?" she exclaimed unable to stop smiling. She threw her arms up in the air. "I had to blast that wall open!"

"Yeah." said Aerrow. He sighed wistfully. "Where I would be with out you Piper?"

She stopped. "You'd be stuck to that wall, and be about two inches thick." She measured the distance with her thumb and finger.

They laughed and entered the bridge.

"Hey guys, " said Aerrow seeing Stork and Finn, "You wouldn't believe what-um, Finn?"

"Yeah?" replied Finn tiredly (he was still in his white towel- which was technically grey now).

"Why is your hair pink? And why are you umm, wearing that dirty towel?"

"And why," added Piper, "do you have two Chroma crystals."

"Well I can explain-"

****

Piper was looking at the damage in her room shacking her head (why was it always her room?) and sighed.

"I'm really sorry Piper," said Finn cringing, afraid she would attack him at any moment. "I promise to clean it up."

"You'd better," muttered Piper tiredly. She looked over at Finn. . "Now let me see those crystals."

Finn handed over the crystals while Piper looked closely at them. "Huh," she muttered curiously. "Well they certainly look the same." She commented.

"At least now we know what the Cyclonians wanted the Iris crystals for." said Aerrow. "They could have replicated any crystal they wanted."

Piper was still looking intently at the crystals. "I wonder…"

She tossed one of the crystals at Aerrow.

"Try activating it." she said.

As though on cue, the crystal began to glow and Aerrow's form changed in a flash of light. He appeared to wearing different clothes and his hair was a light blue. Piper activated her crystal as well, and her hair tuned pink, her clothes all grey.

"I can't believe it!" she exclaimed staring at the crystal. "A perfect transformation of the composition!" She was ecstatic. " Can you imagine what we could do?" her eyes got big and shiny the way they always did whenever crystal were involved. "It's the discovery of the centaury!"

"Yeah," said Finn not sounding interested. "that's nice and all. Now can I _pleeease_ have one?"

Aerrow handed Finn his crystal. "Why is your hair pink in the first place?" he asked.

Stork cringed inconspicuously.

"_Long. Story." _muttered Finn giving Stork the death glare.

Finn held out the crystal. _Please just work, _he thought pleadingly. The crystal responded, and a bright flash of purple tinged light erupted.

"Did it work?" asked Finn eagerly, looking up but unable to see the change.

Junko held up a mirror.

Finn's hair was blue.

"Blue?" he exclaimed. "I wanted blond! How do I make it blond?"

"You just have to imagine it blond," said Piper. "Like so," She closed her eyes and her form flashed once more. Now her hair was red.

Finn looked at her stupidly. "Your hair's red, not blond." Piper rolled her eyes. "That's because I imagined it red. Now you try."

Finn closed his eyes and tried to imagine his hair blond.

_Blond, _he thought. _Blond blond blond blond blond…_

_Hmmm...blondes. Cute little blond girls in short skirts and flirty pink tank tops, showing off their curvy bodies…_

The crystal flashed.

Finn opened his eyes. "Did it work?" he asked eagerly. His team-mates faces were shocked, then, they broke out into peals of laughter.

"What?" he asked.

"Wrong type of blonde," said Aerrow chuckling. Junko held up the mirror again.

Oh Finn was blonde alright. In fact, he looked just like the blond girl he'd been imagining.

"Ahhg!" he screamed in a girly voice that had nothing to do with the crystal at all. He clasped both hands over the crystal and though of own normal dude face as hard as he could. The crystal flashed for the third time.

He opened his eyes hesitantly.

"Am I girl?" he asked.

"Well you don't look like one anymore if that's what you mean." said Stork slyly.

Finn opened his eyes and checked the mirror.

"YES!" he cried. "HELLO GORGEOUS!" he grabbed the mirror and kissed his reflection. "Now I can get ready for the dance."

"Oh yeah!" said Junko. " I gotta go pick up Cardinal!" he put the mirror in Stork's hands (which Stork didn't seem very pleased about at all).

"Wait," said Piper, "What dance? Who's Cardinal?"

"Some waitress who asked Junko to the Valentines' Dance." Stork carefully leaning the mirror up against the wall. "Anyway. I should get ready for the dance too."

Pipers face dropped. "_You're _going to the dance!?"

Stork smiled devilishly.

"Of course I am. I wouldn't want to miss Finn losing our little bet." He said.

"_Winning _the bet." Finn corrected. "We're going to the Singles' Dance to pick up some hotties. Or at least," he turned to Stork, "I am."

Stork rolled his eyes.

"What bet?" asked Aerrow.

"Oh nothing," said Stork. "I wouldn't worry about it. Let's just say it's going to be a lot quieter around the Condor after tonight."

"Huh?" was all Aerrow managed.

Pipe raised an eyebrow. "Is there _anything else _we should know about?" she said. _You leave the guys alone for a couple hours and _everything _happens._

"Uh don't think so," said Finn, as he turned to go, then looked back. "Oh yeah, except, _you're coming."_

"What?" said Piper and Aerrow in union.

"Well," said Finn slyly, "Either you're coming to the Singles Dance with us, or you're going to the Valentine's Dance as a _couple_." his eyebrows did a little dance.

"We don't have to go to anything," said Aerrow feeling uncomfortable. "Right Ra- ...?" he looked from his shoulder then around the room. 'Where's Radarr?" he asked, and it dawned on him that he hadn't seen the little guy around since he got back.

Finn shrugged. "Said he was going for a walk or something back in town. Dunno."

"You just left him in town alone?" said Aerrow shocked.

"Naaah, he can take care of himself." said Finn. "I'm sure he'll show up soon enough."

"Storm Hawks are supposed to stick together, Finn. " he said. "Who knows what's happened to him?"

***

Two wine glasses full of grape juice clinked together. The little table on the restaurant's open balcony overlooked a beautiful sunset, dipping behind the edge of Terra Muse.

The two diners squawked and chattered quietly, while a young musician played a harp of in the far corner.

A male waiter with a black curly moustache came over to their table notepad and pen in hand.

"So what would you like to order?" he asked the odd looking couple. It was not everyday you saw a hen and a...a blue monkey thing (what was the blue one anyways?) dining together.

The blue furry one and the hen looked at each other, then replied to the waiter in a series of incomprehensible squawks and chitters then looked at the waiter expectantly.

"Ummm…" said the waiter unsurely. "Maybe you'd like to hear our specials?" He guessed.

The two nodded eagerly.

"Well," said the waiter. "There's our roast chicken special tonight…"

The hen jumped back and squawked insulted. The blue thing jumped on the table and growled shaking a fist at the waiter who cowered.

"Er..my apologies..perhaps something vegetarian instead?"

* * *

**Yeah it's been a while since I uploaded Fluff. I have more diffuclties writing this one- just not in the 'fluffy' mood I guess. Nothing really happens in this chap either. It's all a kind of inbetween one should be better. Bit of RadarrXNamelessStalkerHen at the end too.**


	11. If the Dress Fits

**This isn't a fluff chapter. It's a STUFF chapter. Filler. Lots of filler. And it's not fluffy filler. Just filler-ish filler. **

* * *

Junko stood in front of the bathroom mirror holding a coat hanger in each hand, a different shirt on each one. His face was a mask of indecision and slight frustration.

He put black shirt, which on had a few stitches in it, in front of him, then switched with the green and patchwork brown one.

He frowned and pulled his eyebrows together. He considered wearing his traditional Wallop wrap, but had figured that wouldn't really fit with the mood.

Junko sighed and there was a knock at the bathroom door.

"Oh," said Junko. "Come in."

The door hissed open and Piper walked in. "What are you doing Junko?" she asked looking at her friend with the various clothing items in front of the full-length mirror.

"I'm just trying to pick something to wear to the dance." He looked forlornly at the pile of clothes. "I just don't know what to choose."

"I can help you pick something," said Piper.

"Could you Piper?" Junko asked excitedly, his eyes getting big.

There was another knock at the door.

"Come in," shouted Piper.

The door rose revealing black shoes followed by slightly bell bottomed black plants. After that came a brown belt and a red muscle shirt. Hanging near the center of the torso was a large metal pendant of the Storm Hawks symbol on a heavy gold chain. Over top the muscle shirt was a black jacket that was too shiny to be real leather. The face was covered by dark sunglasses, and the teen's blond hair was messily styled with the points going off in all directions.

The teen raised a hand and brought his sunglasses down to his nose.

"_What up?"_

Piper put her hand on her hip. "Well don't you look spiffy."

Finn walked in, a slight swagger to his movements. "Yeah," he said stopping right in front of her. He titled his head down and looked up. "I know." Then he noticed the pile of clothes by the mirror. "What'cha guys doing?"

"Piper's trying to help me pick out an outfit," said Junko.

Finn gaped. "You're asking _Piper _for f_ashion _advice? You shoulda come to me." he jabbed his thumbs at himself.

Piper frowned at Finn.

"Did you wanna help Finn?" asked Junko, who hadn't meant to insult Finn (although looking Finn up and down, he wasn't sure if he did want Finn to help- Finn's idea of faishon was a bit extreme for him).

"Nah, that okay," said Finn. "I just need the mirror for a bit. If you guys don't mind." he flipped his hands to signify sweeping them out.

Piper's frown deepened (who did Finn think he was?) but seeing as Junko wasn't about to argue, she helped him pick up the clothes and took them back to his room.

***

"What do you think?" asked Junko stepping outside into the hall.

Piper, who had been waiting there quietly, grinned. "That looks great Junko."

Junko smiled bashfully. He was shoeless, as always, but had on a pair of black pants and a red t-shirt. He, like Finn was wearing a black jacket, although it was much more worn down and rather faded.

"Thanks for helping Piper," said Junko. "And for fixing up my old jacket," he looked over at the sleeves where a red storm hawks symbol was stitched in. "I never thought I'd wear this again."

"It's wasn't so hard." said Piper. "I just replaced the Cyclonian symbols with ours."

The old jacket had been buried at the bottom of Junko's closet, but out of the few items Junko had to wear, it was one of the nicest.

"I hope it's okay," he said sounding self-conscious.

"Don't worry," said Piper. "It doesn't matter what you wear, as long as you have fun."

Junko smiled assured. "What are you gonna wear?" he asked.

"I….don't think I'm gonna go."

"Why not ?" asked Junko.

She shrugged, "I'm just going to help Aerrow look for Radarr. Besides, everything I have is full of stitches or is just too casual…". She smiled sadly. She never did spend much on herself. The small allowance she managed to scrape together always went her crystal work or to the ship, or to buying supplies. When she did buy herself clothes they always functional and cheap. And skirts and dresses weren't functional. Or cheap.

Junko smiled. And put a hand on Piper's shoulder. "It doesn't matter what you wear, as long as you have fun."

Piper's face lightened and she chuckled. "You're right Junko. I should take my own advice. I guess I will go…and I suppose...there is something I can wear…"

"That's the spirit!" Junko said happily and he hugged Piper tightly.

"Guh!" Piper said as she was squished. "Junko! Too. Tight. Too tight!"

"Oops. Sorry."

***

Piper sat in her room, reading over the letter she'd gotten a while back. A black box full of tissue paper sat on the floor beside her bed.

_Dear Piper,_

_I hope this reaches you time for your birthday! I've sent it advance, for with all your travelling, mail can have a hard time finding you. It's just a small thank-you for all you've done for me and Terra Clockstoppia. Crystals are still quite a puzzle still, but your notes have been ever so helpful…_

Piper put the letter down and kneeled down by the box and began to fold away the tissue paper. _Way too fancy, _thought Piper. But then, how was she to know? How formal was this dance?

She reached into the box and held up the dress.

It was bell shaped, and poofed out at the hips like a princess dress, except it was shorter. It was entirely a pale, baby-blue color, with ruffles, a petticoat, a corset like top, laces at the back, and spaghetti straps. A big bow sat at the back of the dress.

Piper looked at the dress, not sure what to think of it. A simple black dress might have been more suitable and, well, functional. But Terra Clockstoppia didn't seem to do simple and plain.

Piper put the dress on the bed and picked up the letter once more.

_The design was done by my own tailor, with a bit of additions by myself. I hope you don't mind, but I was the model, since, we do look so alike. And from trying it own myself, I promise you it'll look great! I simply hope that _you_ like it. Keep in touch and Happy Birthday! _

_Sincerely,_

_ Perry_

Piper looked at the dress again.

_No harm in trying it on, right?_

***

Piper stopped in front of the bathroom door and knocked.

"Just a sec." Ringed Finns voice. After a minute the door opened. Finn stood there in his party outfit, shades coving his eyes. He looked her up and down, making her feel uncomfortable. He tipped his glasses to the edge of his nose so she could see his eyes.

"Uhh." He searched for the right words. "You look…_Nice. _When did you get that dress?" He pointed rudely.

"Remember that package Perry sent me for my birthday?"

"You mean the thing that came two weeks later? Yeah, I remember." he chuckled suddenly.

"What's so funny?" asked Piper

"Oh nothing," muttered Finn. "You look good that's all. Washroom's free."

Piper gaped after Finn as he whistled down the hallway. Finn had given her a compliment? What exactly did this dress look like? She stepped into the bathroom and looked at the full length mirror.

_Woah._

****

Stork and Aerrow were talking on the bridge when Finn came in. He stopped short at the sight of them .

"What are you guys wearing?" he said appalled. Aerrow was in his uniform and Stork…

Stork actually looked kind of…cool.

Stork's black jeans were tight, though not too tight ( tight pants caused over heating in the body which could mess up blood flow, but his uniform was an exception because the spandex was specially made) and a black t-shirt with a skull and cross bones over top his metal X with the word DOOM written below it. His usual three belts were done up, but these ones had metal studs on them, as well as, small spray cans attached. Several strange bands in different colours were tied his arms, some of which also had spray cans attached.

"This is a formal dance," said Finn looking at Stork and Aerrow. "No casual wear, and _definitely_ no uniforms."

"I'm _not _going," said Aerrow. "I'll go to town to look for Radarr but that's it." he made the 'out' symbol like an umpire.

"But everyone's going," Finn argued. "Me, for one thing. Junko's already left, and heck, even Stork's going." he gestured to the green merb who didn't look pleased about going at all. Aerrow remained stoic. Finn leaned close up to him.

"_Piiiper's gooing tooo." _He hummed.

"She is?" Aerrow said surprised.

"Yup. Man, she's even got a dress…"

"Piper doesn't have a dress," said Aerrow. He hoped desperately that Finn didn't mean that short pink one with the hideous flowers on it. Where had that dress come from anyways?

"Oh yes she does," replied Finn grinning. "Remember that big package she got from Perry?"

"The birthday present that came two weeks late?" asked Stork. Aerrow shrugged at him.

"Yeah well," said Finn smiling. "It was a dress."

Aerrow and Stork looked at each other confusedly.

The door hissed open, and Piper walked in.

"Woah."

Piper didn't have any fancy heels, so she wore her normal brown boots, which looked moderately okay. Her knees were the only bare part of her legs as the fluffy dress stopped just above them. The dress clinched nicely at the waist, and her light bably-blue long gloves popped out against the dark of the dress and her skin. Her crystal necklace and hair were left alone looking as they usually did.

Piper smiled. "How do I look?"

"Wow Piper." said Aerrow. "You look…really nice."

Stork nodded beside and gave the thumbs up.

"Heh, it'll do," said Finn putting on his shades. He smiled suddenly turning to Aerrow.

"Time to get going then. Still sure you're not gonna come Aerrow?" Finn raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Aerrow looked unsure for a moment.

Piper walked over and put a hand on his arm. "Come on Aerrow. You might as well."

Aerrow looked at her, suprised she was actually agreeing with Finn."But what about Radarr?" he asked.

"We'll all look for Radarr and if we find him we'll head to the dance."

Aerrow mulled it over for a second. Finn crossed hid fingers behind his back.

"Alright ," he sighed. "I'll go."

Piper's smile broadened.

"Yes!" shouted Finn jumping into the air. The others looked at him. "Er…I mean" he crossed his arms nonchalantly, "…that's cool."

Aerrow rolled his eyes and started walking to go get changed.

Finn quietly chuckled to himself. "Score point for Cupid."

****

Radarr and the Hen lazily walked Terra's Muse's streets, dawdling where they pleased.

As they made their way along the city, towards the Mountain King's Hall, where a large group of people had begun to converge, it dawned on Radarr that his team had no idea where he was or how to find him. He looked up into the darkening sky and whimpered quietly, worried.

The hen clucked, looking at him with concern.

Radarr explained and the hen quietly listened then nodded and clucked in reply. Radarr chirped back. Then the hen again. Then Radarr. The hen. Then Radarr. The hen made a sassier kind of reply then grabbed Radarr's hand with her wing and dragged him behind her towards in the direction of the Moutains King's Hall, both clucking and chirping all the way. Had _anyone_ there been able to understand the language of chickens and 'whatever the heck Radarr is' then they would have heard something like this:

"_What's wrong?"_

"_I didn't really tell my family where I was going and now I'm not sure how I'll find them."_

"_Oh. I see. Do you know if they're coming back the terra?"_

"_I don't know. They've forgotten me before." _

"_But that's how you met me, remember?"_

"_True, but still. I don't want to lose them."_

"_Well can't you tell where they are?"_

"_No! How would I be able to do that?"_

"_I thought your name was Radarr. Why do they call you that if you can't tell where they are? Here- follow me. I can find them. They're this way."_

"_What? Wait! How can you find them?"_

"_I always know where you are don't I?"_

Unfortunately, no one who could understand both Radarr and Chicken-Speak was around. How this translation came to be is still a mystery.

***

"Radarr!" shouted Aerrow looking around the open space that was becoming less and less open and more and more filled with people. "Radarr!"

The Moutain King's Hall grounds were a parking lot of people headed towards the dance. The Storm Hawks had arrived and parked their vehicles down one of the side streets.

"Radaaarrr!" shouted Piper looking around. "We need to cover more ground," she said to Aerrow who nodded in agreement.

"We'll lose our spots though," complained Finn. The rest of his team looked disapprovingly at him. "_I'm just saying…"_

"Here," said Aerrow. "We'll split up and cover the city. I'll take the west, Piper you…"

***

The hen and Radarr peeked out from a nearby building. The hen pointed with her wing and clucked proudly. Radarr looked impressed and he nodded at the hen who bowed. Radarr stepped out towards his family then stopped to look back at the hen.

She blinked her eyes sadly, then shooed him forward. He hesitated and instead of going towards his family, stepped back towards the hen and kissed her lightly on the feathered cheek.

The hen put a wing up to her face and blushed.

Radarr scurried away, smiling.

***

"And we'll meet back after an hour if we don't find anyt- Radarr?"

Aerrow, who had been just finishing explaining the plan, looked own at his little blue co-polit who had magically appeared.

Radarr's ears were bent back and smiled cautiously, like the person who's caught after ding something bad.

"There you are buddy!" said Aerrow happily. He bent down on one knee and ruffled the fur on top of Radarr's head. " What you been up to? We were worried."

Radarr smiled brightly suddenly, seeing that 1) Aerrow wasn't mad at him for running off, and 2) They had actually cared that he had been missing. He ran up Aerrow's shoulder and cuddled affectionately. Aerrow chuckled scratching Radarr's ears. Then he noticed the bright yellow head, peering from behind a nearby building.

Aerrow looked at Radarr. "Somebody's been up to something now hasn't he?" he asked all-knowingly. Radarr looked from Aerrow back to the hen. He jumped off Aerrow's shoulder to the ground and chirped signally over the building.

Aerrow smiled wryly. "Okay. But met us back here at midnight and keep in touch." He handed Radarr one of the tiny in-ear communication devices. Radarr nodded happily, saluted, then ran of back into the shadows.

"Looks like the Love Bug got Radarr," said Finn grinning.

Stork shook a can of aerosol spray. "Poor guy He might not survive." He sprayed the air. "They get inside your _head-" , _he pointed to his skull,_"-_and turn your brain to _mush-", _he mimed squishing something in his hands, _"-_and then they make their way down-", he leaned close to Finn's face,_" - and __**eat out your heart." **_


	12. Dance and Doom

**Stork's POV**

I hated it before we had even got inside. I was standing in the ticket line with the others just after dusk. It was LOUD and CROWDED and it was chilly too, so the chances of catching something and getting sick and dieing _and_ having a headache as I died were all relatively high. I took once of the cans of repellent I had prudently brought with me and sprayed the surrounding airspace causing Finn to gag.

A cold wind blew and Piper shivered behind me.

"You want my jacket?" asked Aerrow.

"That's okay," said Piper. Aerrow shrugged off his light brown patch work jacket anyways ( I hoped that fluffy cotton wasn't wool on the inside- such a terrible breeding ground for bacteria) and put it around her shoulders leaving him in his white and wrinkled dress shirt.

"Awww," said Finn. "Isn't that cute."

"She's cold," said Aerrow defensively.

"S-so am I." I said wrapping my arms around myself. I looked at Finn.

"_No." _he said pulling back .

"I wouldn't wear it even if you offered it."

Despite the enormous amount of people, there was luckily more than one ticket booth, and more than one entrance to the building. We steeped up the booth.

"How many?" the man asked tiredly.

"Four please."

"Singles or couples?"

We looked at each other in surprise. "You…mean," asked Aerrow. "they're being held at the same place?"

"Big hall kid." said the ticket seller.

"Two singles," said Finn, "And two couples." He gabbed his thumb at Piper and Aerrow behind him.

"Singles," Piper corrected. "_All _singles." She leaned threateningly towards Finn with her fist as she said it.

***

_No, no, no, no, no._

The inside was worse than the outside.

_Why did I agree to this?, _I thought standing in the large open hall, bustling with dancing people. At one end of the hall was a DJ stand, set with turntables and lights and speakers that had to be illegally large.

The continually pumping of the bass was shattering my skeletal stcuture and my earplugs weren't doing much to help.

The lights _glared. _A giant disco hung in the middle of ceiling casting lights all over the room. Smaller speakers were set up at the corners of the hall, along with other colourful lights. In the center of the wall across from us was a stage, a shimmering ink curtain pulled across it. Confetti, heart shaped ballons, and a general mash of white, pink and red were making me feel nauseous.

"Ohhh," I groaned.

"Alriiight!" shouted Finn throwing his hands up into the hair.

Guh. Was one night of this much noise really worth it for a month of quiet?

I thought about it. Yes. Yes it was.

But I had the most awful feeling that I was going to lose the bet. Or maybe I'd just gotten food poisoning. What kind mind worms had infected me to make a bet with Finn in the first place? Insanity. Stupidity.

The worst diseases of all person kind.

Looking over at the girls in similar short skirts and dresses, similarily styled hair, repeated patterns and chunky jewellery, huddled in massive giggling herds…

There was bound to be one girl here desperate enough to say yes to Finn. Guh.

I was doomed.

"Time to win a bet," said Finn putting on his sunglasses - maybe I wasn't doomed after all- how many girls were willing to dance with a guy wearing sunglasses inside?

A wandering spotlight briefly feel on me, searing my eyes. Actaully, maybe sunglasses weren't such a bad idea.

I went to sit down with Aerrow and Piper at one of the roundtables huddled along the edges of the hall. I sat down and pulled my legs up onto my chair. Stupid bet. I could be at the Condor right now, alone. Peace and quiet. One night of that was better than this AND a week of bowing down to Finn's every command.

My head pounded. Give me Cyclonians and Murk Raiders any day. At least then I would had my ship. My nice safe ship.

"You okay Stork?" I heard Piper try to ask,though I could barely hear her.

"Nooo," I growled back, though I wasn't growling at her. I had to raise my voice loudly just to hear myself. "But it doesn't matter. J_ust...go have fun."_

Piper and Aerrow gave me a sympathetic look.

The noise of the blasting speakers suddenly dropped and a voice came over the sound system.

"ALRIIIGHT EVERYBODY? ARE YOU READY TO MINGLE? FLIRT? AND HAVE FUN?"

"Yeah!", the crowd cheered back.

"I SAID, ARE YOU READY???"

"YEAH!!!"

"THEN LET'S _PAAAAARTY!"_

I covered my hand over my ears and growled.

***

**(3rd Person)**

The speakers jumped started and the whole chamber shook. People began to dance (that is, if they hadn't already been dancing) shaking and moving. Aerrow, Piper, and Stork sat at their table feeling more uncomfortable then they had in long time.

Finn on the other hand was ready to go.

He strode confidently through the crowd. The music, the lights, the girls.

Terra Muse was _the best._

He scanned the jumping and twirling crowd. Beautiful girls to the left, beautiful girls to the right. But which one to ask?

That's when he saw her.

A flirty zebra patterned dress. Short messy blond hair with hot pink highlights. Striking eyeliner. She moved in tall studded pink stilettos like she owned the room.

"_Target selected." _Finn said to himself and made his way across the dance floor.

***

"_May I have this dance?"_

Piper looked over to her left surprised to see a young man, dressed in a all black with a yellow tie. His black dress shirt had it's sleeves rolled up to the held out his ahnd and smiled.

"Umm," said Piper, flattered to be asked. "Sure." The boy took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

Aerrow sat the table watching Piper go. She looked back briefly and smiled at him and waved off her hand, telling him to go dance too.

He sighed rising up. "Might as well. Stork?"

"I'm fine." he growled. "Leave me to…_wallow."_

Aerrow turned away from him, took a deep breath, and dived into the crowd.

***

_Meanwhile, at the Couples Dance…_

Junko was glad that Cardinal didn't mind that he couldn't dance. A sweet, but not slow song was playing. Playing live actually. The harpist on stage was playing a slow, sweet tune.

The two swayed together, and Cardinal rested her head against his large chest. He wondered vaguely if she had fallen asleep. He kind of felt sleepy himself.

The lights were softer here. The people moved like an ocean on a clam day.

****

The people at the Singles Dance moved like rapids.

"Uh, pardon me," said Aerrow as he tried to squeeze past the herds of dancers. "Exscuse me." Gostled by the crowd he bumped into another person. "Sorry 'bout that." he said. A party-goer walked by and stepped on his foot and walked away. "Ow," said Aerrow lifting up the injured foot. A dancing couple from behind bumped into him, and being unbalanced, stumbled forward-

_-right into a group of girls._

Aerrow stood up feeling awkward. The girls stared, faces varying from looks of amusement, surprise and disgust. Some of them giggled.

"Er, hey ladies," he said. _Ladies? _He mentally smacked himself. _I sound like Finn!_

The girl across from him in the circle stepped forward. She wore, what Aerrow thought to be, a painfully tight, shiny lavender dress. Her dark mahogany hair hung in waves.

She put her hand on her hip. "What are you doing?" she asked a faint smile on her lips.

"Ummmm." Inspiration sprung in the moment. He held out his hand. "Asking you for a dance?"* He tried to pretend that all the other girls weren't staring at him.

The girl looked him up and down disapprovingly and bit her lip for a moment.

"Maybe another time," she said she smiled sadly.

"Oh, um, yeah," said Aerrow feeling really stupid. Was there something wrong with what he was wearing? He supposed a wrinkled and stitched white blouse, and old jeans didn't look all to groomed. He tried to back out of the ring of girls with as much dignity as possible. He slunk back and the crowd surrounded him again, like waves washing away the sand.

"If she wuz waiting for a betture catch, she 'as missed 'er chance." said an accented voice behind him. He turned around.

"_Dove?" _he exclaimed relieved to see a familiar (and friendly) face.

She smiled sweetly. "Bien soir, Aerrow. I did not expect too see you 'ere."

"Me neither," he laughed. "Finn's idea really. What about you? What brings you to Terra Muse?"

"I 'ave always 'eard of Terra Muse's famous dances. Mes amies and I decided to find out if zhey really were all as great as everyone said. "

Aerrow couldn't help but smile- the awkward feeling of the dance dimmed, and he didn't feel so weirded out being with a friend.

The fast song that had been playing ended and a slower one took it's place.

Dove looked down at the ground bashful for a moment, then tilted her head up.

"Perhaps," she said, "You would not mind dancing with me?"

Aerrow smiled and stepped forward, putting one hand on Dove's waist, and holding her hand in a waltz-like position. Dove put her free hand on his shoulder and the two danced slowly and talked, catching up on the stuff that had happened since they had last met.

* * *

**A/N: I said this would be fluff. I never said between who. Story isn't over yet mind you.**

**Also, I've been trying to stay away from continuosly switching POVs but I just couldn't resist writing from Stork's. He's just so optmistic! Meh, I'm gonna be busy in the next little while so story updates, for all stories, may be kinda slow or gapped. Just a heads up.**

***_Now_ he sounds like Finn. I wonder if there's any Murk Raiders at this dance? They all have two left feet anyways.**


	13. Finn Thinks He Can Dance

**More dance. More doom.**

* * *

"Hey."

The blonde girl twirled around from her friends to look at Finn. He leaned on table casually with one arm.

"Your father must have been a thief."

"_Excuse me?" _she replied.

"Because he stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes."

She laughed. "Heard it before."

Finn snapped to attention. "You have? _Man, _I thought that was a good one."

"Trust me" she said. "I've heard them all."

"I bet you have," said Finn slyly. "So, dance floor?"

She smiled coyly. "Hmmm..maybe. Give me a reason."

Finn ran a hand through his hair. "Isn't _this _reason enough?"

"Huh," she laughed. "No."

"I am a Storm Hawk you know," he said.

"No, I didn't know," she said, "Which one?"

"Can't you tell? I'm Finn. _Chica cha." _He rolled his hands like pistols.

She looked unimpressed and pursed her lips. "Finn, Finn…nope doesn't ring a bell."

Finn gaped. "Oh come on! _Finn- me- the sharpshooter!"_

She smiled and shrugged.

Finn scoffed, ego severely damaged.

"Hey Barbette," called one of the girls at the table risign suddenly and grabbing the girl's arm. "Let's go make a request, kay?" and she started dragging her friend with her.

"Hey, woah-" was all she replied as her firend pulled her away.

Finn gaped after them, embarrassed.

Well at least he got her name. Barbette. Like babe and dudette stuck together.

If only they were stuck together.

Finn's shoulders slumped and as Barbette and her friend disappeared into the crowd he noticed Piper dancing with a random guy.

"What?" exclaimed Finn. What was she doing? She was supposed to be dancing with Aerrow! He made a beeline for the dancing couple- his primary purpose was to get himself a date, but he might as well use his awesome match-making skills for the good of others right?

The poor young man barely saw what hit him- Finn came right up to him and shoved him aside.

"Excuse me, but I think I'll have the next dance," said Finn.

"Finn!" chastised Piper putting her hand's on her hips. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think you're doing?" said Finn (the young man was scratching his head behind him), "You're _supposed_ to be dancing with _Aerrow."_

"Hmph," replied Piper. "I don't _have to _dance with anyone Finn. Quit forcing it." She walked away from him off into the crowd.

"Come on Piper!" he shouted after her and ran after her, but she dived in and out of groups and behind dancers trying to avoid Finn. A group of some very tall guys were moving across the floor. Piper ran by in front of them, Finn close behind- but not close enough.

He tried to stop- really. You'd think a dance floor wouldn't be so well waxed (well they shouldn't be- because when they are, everyone ends up sliding into each other).

Which is exactly what happened to Finn.

_Wham!_

Finn collided with the group of muscular guys. Both parties tumbled to the ground. The muscley guys rose up and towered over Finn growling.

Finn laughed nervously from his spot on the ground. His glasses fell from his head lopsidedly over his face.

"Heh, heh, sorry about."

The guy in front growled.

"I'll just, uh, get out of your way then- hey wait-ahhh!"

***

Stork was sitting by himself when he heard an unmistakable girly scream getting louder.

"AAAAAAhhhhhh!"

_Whack!_

Stork jumped as the red, black and yellow blur, flew over the crowd and landed right in front of him.

Finn's back legs bent over strangely over his head, before limply falling to the ground.

"You were trying to use cheesy pick up lines again weren't you?"

Finn stood up and stretched his back (and something cracked in a very broken sounding way).

"It was a dude!" Finn said, face contorted with pain.

"Wow," said Stork. "Even I didn't think you'd sink that low…"

"I wasn't asking him out!" Finn retorted. He bent his arm back into normal position.

"Sooo, I take it you haven't found a date yet." said Stork his mood lightening.

"_Yet," _Finn emphasized. "But no worries Stork, I _will. _And when I do," he said leaning in threateningly close. "One of my first commands as Master Sharpshooter will be for you massage my aching back-"

Stork grimaced.

"-right after you dye _your_ hair pink."

Stork recoiled. Behind Finn a group of girls walked by- all wearing pink. A pack of heart shaped balloons floated by, varying shades of the light red colour.

Magenta, fuchsia, rose, salmon, raspberry, watermelon, cerise, coral…

"P-pp-…Pink?"

"HELLO DUDES AND DUDETTES!"

Stork's and Finn looked up precariously. The beat of the music suddenly changed and the lights dimmed. The people slowed and looked to the DJ stand.

"SORRY TO INTEREPT THE AWSOME BUT WE HAVE A SPECIAL COMPETITION PLANNED FOR YOU ALL TONIGHT."

The dancers whispered curiously to themselves.

"THAT'S RIGHT- A _DANCE _COMPETITION!SO NOBODY MOVE AND JUST LET THE SPOT LIGHT DO THE PICKIN."

Several beams of light shot down from the ceiling searching the crowd, stopping randomly over couples, friends, the occasional random single person who would immediately grab the nearest stranger next to them, empty spots, people idling at the snack bar, and of course: Stork and Finn.

"SO GRAB YOUR PARTNER, MOVE TO THE CENTER FLOOR AND GET UP AND GET DOWN!"

"Oh, no-" said Stork .

"You're kidding me," said Finn looking around nervously, "Come on, where's a girl when you need one?" Couples, dudes, hmm….maybe that's a girl…

The gang of muscled guys appeared from the crowd.

_Definitely not female._

"_Hey you!" _the leader, with punked-out purple hair yelled. "I wasn't finished with you!"

Finn's skin crawled and Stork yelped at the sites of the brutes.

The guys growled, the leader slammed his fist into his other hand.

Finn did not want to end up as the other hand. He grabbed Stork's wrist and dragged him to the center of the dance floor.

"_Dance for you life!"_

****

"-And that was the farside…" said Aerrow finishing off his tale of what had happened when they had left Atmos to the other side. Dove and he were sitting across from each other at a table.

"Amazing!" said Dove, "Zat is very fascinating. Mon Papa and I were quite worry'ed about zyou all when zyou left. We thought perhaps something 'orrible had happened."

Aerrow smiled reassuringly. "Nah, nothing we couldn't handle."

"Hey!" said a friendly voice. A tall man with pale skin and teal-green hair came up from behind. It was weird to see the leader of the Rebel Ducks out of uniform.

"Bon soir Aerrow," he said and briefly saluted. Aerrow saluted back. "It is nice to see you 'ere, for once, not on the battlefield."

"Uh uh uh," said another man with jagged blue bangs that hung over his eyes, also part of the Rebel Ducks, joining in. "This iz a Valentine's Dance non? Love iz a battlefeild of its own."

The Rebel Duck leader looked over at his companion."You stole zhat from a song."

"Oui," he admitted.

The leader turned back to Dove."Time to go cousine," he said. Dove nodded. She turned to Aerrow.

"You and ze Storm 'Awks will come by zumtime yes?"

"Sure," said Aerrow.

Dove smiled. "Say 'ello to zee others pour moi."

Aerrow nodded and watched as Dove left to go with the others. He suddenly felt alone and awkward again. He figured he ought to try to find the others and tell them he'd seen Dove.

That was when the announcement came on. The center of the dance floor had cleared out to make room. At first he thought nothing of it- that is until he saw two of team-mates waltzing in the center.

"Stork? Finn?" he exclaimed, shoving his way to the edge of the crowd. He whispered at them as they passed by. "_What are you doing?"_

"Waltzing of course." said Finn. "What does it look like? The Tango?

Stork and Finn twirled so that Stork was closer to Aerrow. "Are the scary guys in leather gone yet?"

Aerrow looked confused. He scanned the rest of the crowd. Sure enough he could see a group of leather clad, spiked guys eyeing Finn and Stork.

"Er…you mean those guys?"

Stork followed his gaze and groaned.

"Why are you hiding from them anyways?"

"Dude!" said Finn, "They're totally gonna pulverize me."

"Why?"

"Cause I ran into them."

"Then apologize."

"I did!"

Aerrow sighed exasperatedly. "You're Storm Hawks for crying out-loud. I'm sure that, worse comes to worse you can take 'em."

"Uh, Aerrow, Have you looked at them?" Hissed Finn. "They'd wipe the floor with us. It'd be like arm-wrestling Junko. Agh! Speaking of Junko where's the big guy when you need him?"

****

"You're not seriously going got eat that are you?" said Cardinal looking at the mis-mash of food on the table, laid out in front of Junko.

"Ummm," said Junko. "Yeah?"

"Betcha ya can't." said Cardinal confidently.

Junko smiled.

****

"Besides," added Finn. "I think we can win." he looked over at the other chosen, spotlighted dancers, who were either a) Falling over, or b) Fallen over.

Aerrow shook his head at his teammates. There was a hesitant tap at his shoulder.

He turned around and to his surprise to see the girl from before in the lavender dress, smiling shyly at him.

"I think I'll take you up that dance now," she said then whispered, "I just didn't want to say yes in front of my friends. They are _so_ judgemental." She flipped her hand, then smiled at him.

Finn and Stork gaped behind Aerrow. Aerrow looked at her disbelievingly, and it took a moment to clear his throat.

"_No thanks." _

The girl's face was surprised. "Uh...what? But a minute ago…"

"A minute ago I didn't know what kind of person you are."

She gaped, then composed herself. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm being nice." she said. "But if you don't wanna dance, fine."

"I'll dance with you!" said Finn.

She looked at Finn, who was still waltzing with Stork.

"Er...that's ok. You look like you're busy." She walked away, feeling rather dejected.

Finn frowned and Stork chuckled.

"Gah!" exclaimed Finn. "I don't have time for this! Aerrow switch places with me!"

"What? Oh no you're not -hey!"

Next thing Aerrow knew Finn had thrown him into Stork and taken off into the crowd, leaving him with the pilot.

Stork sighed and smiled. "Finally."

Aerrow shifted uncomfortably. "Uh…"

"Him being gone I mean. Finn only _thinks _he can dance."

Aerrow laughed nervously.

Stork raised an eyebrow. "You can' t dance either can you?"

Aerrow shook his head.

"Were doomed."

* * *

**A/N: I got the 'Love is a Battlefeild' thing from the the song 'Battlefeild' by Jordin (since when is Jordan spelt with -in?) Sparks, though apparently, there are plenty of other songs with similar titles.**


	14. Lady Raven

**A/N: Okay guys, this is it. I said to myself I would finish this on Valentine's Day and I went through hell to do it. I was up to four in the morning last night plus some this morning and thats the least of it. So I hope you guys like it. The last chapters are all coming up. P.s I seriously recommend having youtube handy for the next couple chapters. Play whatever dance music you can think of.**

* * *

"Your left foot Aerrow! No, your other foot! You dance across skimmers in mid air dodging the Dark Ace but you can't waltz across a flat surface?"

In the middle of the lit dance floor the dancing pairs were trying their best to stay in the competition and not look like idiots in front of the watching crowd. Some people seemed itching to join in- possibly frustrated with the complete incapability of the chosen dancers to remain simply upright.

"Fighting isn't the same as dancing Stork." Aerrow argued back. This was the fourth time he'd stepped on Stork's bare foot. Maybe you oughta get shoes, he thought to himself. He was actually a little irritated with himself- he didn't figure he would be this bad at dancing. The music wasn't even something you could waltz to. Plus he really didn't feel too comfortable dancing with Stork. They kept colliding and walking into each other.

They both tried to unsuccessful lead again and ended up in a strange lock wrist situation.

"This isn't working," said Aerrow eyebrows set.

"Clearly," said Stork. "You're not very good with rhythm are you?"

Aerrow shrugged and smiled embarrassedly. The song died down.

"OKAY EVERYBODY! THIS IS THE LAST SONG FOR THE DANCE COMPETITION!", yelled the announcer. "SO GET IT TOGETHER AND BOOGIE!"

Then the music started in again, with a steady beat. Instinctively Aerrow's foot stated tapping.

"I think we can last one more song," said Aerrow.

Stork grimaced. "I don't think my feet can."

"C'mon Stork," said Aerrow. "I'm starting to catch the beat here."

****

Finn wasn't five minutes from the dance competition when the 'guys in leather' found him.

"_Hey!" _shouted one of them in a gruff loud voice.

Finn cringed in mid step and ever so slowly turned.

The group advanced menacingly. The leader in front growled.

"_Don't think you can dance your way out of this one." _

Finn let out a half-yelp half-scream and darted away, breaking into a ran. The gang chased after him.

It was hard to manoeuvre, there were so many people. Where the heck was the door to this place? Finn tried to escape the crowd. He broke free of the mob, looking behind as he ran forward….

_Whack!_

…. straight into a wall.

He stopped and panicked, and looked behind again. They were gaining. Innocent dancers flew up into the air, thrown out of the way by the leather guys.

Finn had no where to run. So he turned around and tried to look brave.

"I don't want to have to hurt you guys." he said, though he was shaking inside. The leather guys laughed.

"I'm warning you," said Finn. "I' m a Storm Hawk."

"Sure you are," they laughed.

"He is," said a voice behind them. They turned curiously to see a girl in a light blue dress with dark skin and shining orange eyes.

The group of burly men looked at her dumbfounded.

"I know. Hard to believe." The girl said smiling.

"Piper!" Finn yelled surprised.

"You'll get lost if you know what's good for ya," warned one of the brutes. "I ain't got no problem with hitting girls."

"Great," said Piper. "Neither do I."

The guys growled and divided up. Three at Piper, and three at Finn.

They charged.

*****

Cardinal didn't know what to say, so she just sat there with her mouth hanging open. She watched Junko finish off the last of the food on his plate, the same way she had watched him finish off all the other plates. He swallowed the last morsel, gulping loudly and licked his lips. A small burp escaped his throat and he quickly covered his hand over his mouth.

"Oops, sorry," he chuckled embarrassedly.

Cardinal shut her mouth and blinked. She thought she had seen it all- working in her Dad's diner, she had watched her fair share of eating contest (including watching the losers lose their dinner) as well as the other unpleasentries of watching people eat, but never, had she ever seen anyone down so much food so fast without a single problem the way Junko did.

Finally she managed to speak. _"That was.."_

Junko cringed. He was sure she was going to criticize him for burping or eating too fast like Piper usually did.

"...really impressive."

Junko smiled bashfully. "Really?"

"Yeah," she said. "You should totally come down to the Treble Chef for our Friday Night eating Contest. You'd win hands down."

Junko laughed. "Well if there's one thing I'm good at, besides being a Storm Hawk, it's eating."

****

Aerrow felt he was finally starting to get it. It _was_ a bit like fighting, he had to admit. There were moves and a pattern, but you kind of just went with the flow. You responded with instinct, not thought.

Stork was, and though he would never admit, actually enjoying himself too. He figured he would probably break something by the end of the night, or contract some illness because the close quarters but there was just something about _music. _

It was only as Aerrow did a spin around did he notice something.

"Hey Stork?" said Aerrow moving back into a waltz.

"Uh huh," said Stork.

"Why are we dancing again?"

"Because those leather guys are chasing Fin-" he stopped. "Oh. Yeah." The leather guys had left to go chase Finn, leaving the other Storm Hawks free to stop dancing. " Guess… we could stop then."

Aerrow shrugged to one side. "Well, we could just finish this last one."

"We could," agreed Stork. "_But that's it."_

Aerrow smiled, then hearing loud noise looked up. Stork looked up as well and for the second time that night (for Stork anyways) someone was flying across the dance floor barrelling right towards him, eclipsing the lights of the dance.

"_Figures."_ He remarked.

BAM!

****

"Maybe I over did it." Piper mused standing with her fist still curled. The other guys behind her were staring with jaws dropped and eyes pooping out.

She turned to face them and gave them a devious smile. "_Who's next_?"

They screamed and ran.

Finn's luck was not as good. He was dodging punches from all three of his half of the brutes. He dived quickly between them, running into one of the dance tables where some girls and guys looked over in surprise. There were some heart shaped cream pies sitting on the table.

"You eating these?" he asked.

The people shook their heads.

Finn grabbed a pie in each hand and whirled around just as the brutes charged at him. He threw the pies taking out the two to the sides. The middle man barged towards him. Finn jumped up as the leader reached the table, banging into it, and landed behind him. Glancing around Finn noticed, that among the dark leather, right at the waist, a bright rim of white boxers with red hearts stood out. Well, really, who could resist?

He grabbed the rim of the boxers and gave a great big pull.

It sounded like it hurt.

The leader turned around looking mighty uncomfortable and angry. "_You little..! _I'm gonna crush you like a bug."

Finn's eyes darted to the sides as he noticed the other guys approaching wiping pie of their faces.

"Ummm-hmmm." there was a very authoritive clearing of the throat.

All four looked over too see Aerrow, Stork, and Piper.

One of the guys pointed his finger at each one counting in his head and then counted his own crew mates and it seemed to dawn on him that they were not only outnumbered but also _really_ out matched.

The leader hesitated then pointed a finger at Finn and got right up in his face. "Next time," he snarled, " watch where you're going."

Then he turned, his under wear still sticking up in a bunch at the back of his pants, followed by his pie covered friends.

Aerrow looked at Finn and Piper. "What happened?"

Finn laughed nervously. "We kicked butt?"

"Which one of you two threw the guy across the hall?" asked Stork irritably.

"Ummm.." said Piper raising her hand shyly.

Stork frowned. "Try looking before you throw from now on."

"Oops," said Piper. "Sorry Stork."

"Weren't you guys dancing?" asked Finn. "Did you win? Is there a prize?" he sounded excited.

"Well after the flying humanoid landed on me…" said Stork. _"No. _I think I did sprain something though." he stretched his back and there was a very loud cracking noise that made Stork grimace.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"

"Uhh, now what?" groaned Stork as the announcer's voice rang out once more.

"IF WE MAY DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO THE CENTER STAGE NOW!"

The sparkling pink curtains of the stage in the far wall opened up, revealing a black space.

"TONIGHT WE HAVE AVERY SPECIAL GUEST!"

The light at the back of the stage glowed red, illumining the silhouette of a slim figure in a dress, surround by some other silhouettes who appeared to be sitting on some chairs.

"INTRODUCING, LADY RAVEN AND THE HEART STRINGS!"

The crowd roared. Apparently Lady Raven and the Heart Strings were very famous on Terra Muse. The stage lit up all over. In the center stood a woman, with her hair in a black up-do and wearing a shimmering gold dress. There was a strange violin tucked under her chin. The other figures around her, dressed in less striking tuxes, or black dresses all had a string instrument of sort with them. A cello, a viola, a bass etc. Some of the instruments looked to be electric though.

"Wow. Man, she's hot." Finn said.

Without saying a word they started to play except...it didn't sound like classical music. It sounded like a typical song except all strings. The violin seemed to be singing, wordless vocals. And it was catchy too. As well as…

Aerrow narrowed his eyes looking on stage. The main violinist was practically shredding her violin, her hand moving in a quick perfect motion while her eyes were shut. Some underlining melody repeated itself again, something that made the Storm Hawks all shiver.

…familiar.

"_That tune..." _said Aerrow. He itched for his blades back on the ship.

"It can't be," said Piper.

"It is," said Finn horrified. "Agh, _ewwwww." _

The woman stage opened her shining yellow eyes.

_Because when her music plays you're in for trouble._

********


	15. Intermission

**A/N: The Vitamin String Quartet. Youtube them. I'd specifcally recommend playing their cover of "Your hand in Mine"- by Explosions in the sky. That was all I could listen to for writing last night.**

* * *

"_Lady Raven is…Ravess." _said Aerrow staring up at the stage in shock. In fact, aside from the clothes and the colour change in hair, she looked very much like Ravess.

"Ugh," complained Finn throwing up his hands. "I called her hot!_ Gross._ I thought for once we just have some fun without running into any Cyclonians."

"Ex-Cyclonian," corrected Piper.

"Maybe," said Aerrow. "Maybe not. She might be connected to the Cyclonians we found at the Iris crystal caves." he looked back at the stage. "I wonder if Lady Raven won't mind us getting her autograph, and, a couple of answers."

How they were going to get to her was another problem entirely. For a while they tried standing in front of the stage. When 'Lady Raven' noticed them (and hit the wrong note too in surprise), she simply glared back (yup, it was definitely Ravess. Few people had the same glare) and ignored them for the next two songs. Finally though, she seemed to get too irritated by the Storm Hawks and whispered something off stage. An announcement went up saying there would be a breif intermission. Lady Raven went to go walk offstage.

"Hey!" called Aerrow reaching the edge of the stage. "Lady Raven!"

Ravess turned to scowl at him.

"If you want an autograph," she hissed. You're going to have to wait in line at the end of the show like everyone else."

"Not exactly looking for autograph," said Finn. The idea that anyone would want her autograph seemed impossible to him.

"Listen Storm Hawks," she said coming closer so that only they could hear. " I haven't done anything wrong, so don't cause me any trouble. All I'm doing is playing my music."

"Is that what you call-" started Finn before Stork elbowed him in the guts.

"There's been some recent Cyclonian activity around here," said Aerrow.

"Fascinating," she commented not sounding fascinated at all. "But not my concern. Go deal with it yourself."

"Just saying," said Aerrow. "If you are involved-"

"Then you'll find out and I'll go to jail." she finished in a sign-song voice. "Please, spare me your warnings. I have nothing to do with Cyclonia anymore."

Aerrow and Ravess' eyes met for a moment glaring at each other.

"If you say so.." he said then turned to go.

"What?" said Finn turning after the others. "You mean were just gonna leave her?"

"She hasn't done anything wrong," said Aerrow. "And if she does we'll find out." he said giving a smile and the usual reassurance.

"What about all the stuff she already did though?" Finn complained. "The Skyknight council has a huge bounty on her head." He could totally restock his record collection, a new guitar…

"She defected. Sort of…Just let it go Finn."

Finn sighed exasperatedly, then his ire was swept away suddenly by a new worry.

"What time is it?" he asked.

Aerrow was the only one with a watch on. "Eleven thirty," he said. "Why?"

"Oh Man!" exclaimed Finn. "That only gives me…a half an hour to find a date! "

Piper and Aerrow looked at each other with equal confusion.

"You two!" said Finn grabbing Piper and throwing her into Aerrow. "Start dancing- don't argue!" And then, without explaining himself, took off into the crowd.

They looked over at Stork for an answer. "Don't ask," he said. "But if you see me wandering around the Condor doing Finn's bidding_, please, _just throw me to the wastelands."

Aerrow and Piper were only more confused.

Stork started slink off.

"Wait, Stork. Where are you going?" asked Piper.

Stork looked around. "To wallow, I guess."

"Why not ask someone to dance?" said Aerrow. "It is Valentine's day, after all."

"If you like that sort of thing." muttered Stork.

"Oh come on Stork," said Piper. "Don't be such a cynic. You might find someone you have a lot in common with."

Stork sniffed. "The kind of people I have a lot in common with, wouldn't come to a dance like this." he remarked and then disappeared into the crowd. The other two Storm Hawks looked onward, feeling bad for the sulking pilot. The Heart Strings had started back up again, playing a slow melancholy song that, really did pull on their heart strings making Stork's pessimism seem more sorrowful.

Aerrow suddenly realized that he was still holding on to Piper and they were both swaying to the music.

"Hey," he said. "Did I tell you I saw Dove?"

"Here?" asked Piper.

"Yeah," said Aerrow. "She and some of the Rebel Ducks came for the dance, but they left she wanted to know…"

And with that they started dancing. There was no asking. They just lightly put their arms around each other and started swaying to the music, talking, and then not talking, then dancing to a faster song, and then swaying again to a slower one in a very natural motion.

*-*-*-*-*

"I saw you take on those guys."

"Yeah?" said Finn sitting across from the lovely beauty. "Pretty great, wasn't I?"

The girl giggled. She had long straight blond hair and blue strapless dress that looked _amazing._

"Definitely," she agreed.

"So, Lyra" said Finn, eyeing her up and down. " I should take you round the ship sometime."

The girls' eyes widened. "You mean…_the Condor?"_

"Yup." Finn wasted no time in playing that card.

"That would be amazing!" said the girl jumping out of her seat. Then she got control of herself. "Would...it, be like a date?" she said batting her eyelashes.

"If you want it to be," said Finn raising his eyebrows.

She leaned in across the table cupping her face with one hand. "That would be nice."

Slowly they leaned for a kiss.

"You jerk!"

They pulled away and looked over to their right where a pink-haired girl and a blue haired boy stood facing each other angrily.

"Oh I'm the jerk? Well you're the one who …"

The couple started fighting and arguing too loudly to make out anything of what was being said.

"Woah," said Finn, leaning back from the sheer intensity of the fight.

"Uh, I knooow." said Lyra sounding exasperated. "That's Harold and Gigi. They're always fighting."

"Why?" asked Finn. He ducked to avoid a wayward high heel shoe.

Lyra shrugged. " They used to be super good friends." she said. "And then they started dating but it _totally _didn't work out. So they broke up you know, but they're still always fighting. I mean nobody can stand being around them anymore."

Finn looked at the arguing people.

"It's kind of sad," continued Lyra's voice. "They used to get along so well, but now- psh. I guess some people just aren't the same as girlfriend-boyfriend as they were as friends."

Lyra's words sunk slowly into Finn's skull. The image of Harold and Gigi began to change subtly into the form of Aerrow and Piper, arguing and fighting. Over battle plans, and strategies, mapping, chores, over anything and nothing at all. There would be no escaping it on the Condor. One of them would leave- but the team was nothing without Aerrow, and it was doomed without Piper. Finn suddenly thought about what it might be like if Aerrow and Piper _did _get together- and it _didn't work out_.

His hands flew up to the side of his face like in The Scream by Edvard Munch.

"_What have I done?"_

****

The young man had been watching them dance for longer then he was comfortable with. It was a singles' dance wasn't it? Meaning you were suppose to mingle and flirt. He stepped forward. Time for an intermission.

"Excuse me," he said "But you've coveted this young lady for quite some time now. May I cut in?"

Aerrow and Piper looked over surprised. Aerrow quickly let go of Piper's hands embarrassed. He suddenly felt self-conscious of how long they'd been dancing together. How long had it been? How many songs? He didn't know.

"Uh, sure, sorry," Aerrow muttered and his stomach clenched a little as he noticed that with his perfectly coiffed hair, neat clothes and polite manner the young man was just Piper's type.

As Aerrow moved away Piper reached out and grabbed his hands and pulling Aerrow back close to her.

"No thank you," she said to the young man. "We're perfectly happy like this."

The young man looked apprised for a second (though not as surprised as the SkyKnight) then nodded.

"As you wish," he said and he faded back into the crowd.

Aerrow's face was probably as red as his hair. Finn's teasing words floated through his head, mocking him. Piper was staring down at the floor as they swayed side to side. It took a moment to find his voice.

"He didn't seem that bad looking," Aerrow said throat feeling a little scratchy. It wasn't that she wanted to dance with him, he had figured, but that she really didn't want to dance with the other guy.

Piper raised her head up and looked at Aerrow.

"Neither are those girls watching you," she said smiling.

He didn't think his embarrassment could get any deeper. He was wrong.

"What.. girls?" He asked cautiously, his eyes running side to side nervously.

Piper chuckled quietly.

"They've been watching you quite a while," she remarked looking over Aerrow's shoulder.

He followed her gaze then quickly looked back and groaned.

The table was full of giggling girls, who kept staring their way. Some were even pointing.

He could feel their stares stab into his back.

Piper laughed at his expression.

"How 'bout we step outside for a minute?" He suggested wanting to get away from the staring girls as fast as possible.

"Some fresh air would nice," Piper agreed.

They let go of each other and walked towards the exit.

Five minutes later Finn came running through, the girl Lyra running behind him as fast she could in heels.

"They were just here," He complained. But his team-mates had vanished. What if they had gotten together? What if it was already too late to stop what he had begun?

He couldn't stop imaging Aerrow and Piper fighting all the time.

_Oh man, _he thought, _what had he done?_

* * *

**A/N: Finn has suddenly changed his mind about Piper and Aerrow.**


	16. Curse of the Chroma Crystal

**A/N: Song lyrics from a song called Echo by the Hush Sound. There's only one video on youtube with a proper recording and it's a Fruitbasket video. Good luck finding it.**

* * *

Outside on the Mountain King's Hall grounds, small crystal lanterns had been set up along the paths. Speakers were also hidden among the bushes filtering the music from the dance or else where onto the grounds.

_You are lighthouse, the Seamark_

"Hey Aerrow?" said Piper breathing in the cool night air.

"Yeah?" he replied as they walked along the path.

_The tempest created this tide_

"You ever think...about what were gonna do for the rest of our lives?"

_I'm pulled to the black silver ocean_

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Were gonna be Storm Hawks."

"But besides that?" asked Piper.

"Anything I guess. We'll just have to see what happens." He smiled brilliantly at her.

_Where the current and the heavens collide_

They walked along the path coming towards a bench and behind that a weird looking tree.

_You are the brick, I am so unpredictable_

_Lead by the current away_

"Look at that," said Piper stopping to look at the tree. Aerrow stood beside her.

"Wow."

Although, in the dark it had first looked like one tree, it was in fact two. Two trees, so twisted around each other, that they formed one trunk.

_Your solid stage is so necessary to save_

_All those who stray_

"They're completely intertwined," said Piper. She looked in front of her where a little plaque had been erected. She read it.

"It says, that these different trees had been planted here around the same time, and that when they had planned to cut them down to add an extra wing to the hall, the two trees had started growing towards each other. By the time the bull dozers had come around the trunks had already twisted together, making the stem twice as thick, and they couldn't be knocked down."

Aerrow nodded. "You're always stronger together."

_You are the navigator, who never could lead_

_Were lost in the silver sea_

_I was the ship who was, too proud to ever sink_

The chilly wind blew, rustling their hair and clothes gently.

"Piper?" said Aerrow.

She looked over at him

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"For what?" she asked.

He shrugged and smiled.

"Just you know…everything."

_Love is the ability to grow together, rather than apart._

They stood there beside each other, in front of the twisted tree, thinking of the past, the present and the future.

"You're welcome."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Hey, stop worrying over your friends," said Lyra trying to comfort Finn.

Finn drummed his fingers nervously at the table. "Yeah, I guess," he muttered. "What's the time by the way?"

"Eleven fifty," she said glancing her sparkling watch.

Suddenly the thought of Aerrow and Piper was swept from Finn's mind and more important things, like his bet, were main stage.

"Really?" commented Finn. "Less then I thought. But you know what they say, time flies when you're with pretty ladies."

She giggled at this, and once more the two leaned in for a kiss.

That was, until, Finn exploded.

Well, okay exploded isn't the right word. He started glowing, actually and there was a bright flash of light. Finn looked at himself trying to figure out what had happened. "What the..?"

Lyra leaned back gaping, then stood up indignantly.

"You're not Finn of the Storm Hawks!" she said.

"What?" said Finn. "Yes I am!"

"Hmmph!" She replied grabbing her purse. "Finn of the Storm Hawks doesn't have_ pink hair_." she remarked.

And with another 'humph!' she walked away.

_Pink hair? _Thought Finn. _Oh no. That meant_…Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out the Chroma crystal - except, it was no longer a Chroma crystal. Sitting there in his hand, mocking him in all it's sparkling iridescent glory was a regular old Iris crystal.

He held it up close to his face eyes narrowed at the glittering crystal that had caused him so much trouble all day long. It almost seemed to smile at him.

"_I hate you."_

_******_

The last song was playing quietly. The Heart Strings were having their table for signing set up. All the energy of the crowd had finally died down to glowing embers.

"Stupid Iris crystal, stupid pink hair." muttered Finn alone at the table. "_Pink." _he said distastefully.

"What's wrong with the colour pink?" said a voice behind him.

Finn turned- _no way. It couldn't be._

It was Barbette, the girl Finn had first seen.

"I like pink."

"Well, it's sort of suppose to be blond," said Finn before she could get the wrong idea.

Barbette smiled and came to sit down beside Finn.

"This is kind of slow," she said.

Finn raised an eyebrow. "What is?"

"This song," she complained. "I know it's like the last dance and all, but maybe something a little more rocking maybe. I must have requested Pink Lloyd about a thousand times but noooo."

"Wait, wait," said Finn. "You listen to Pink Lloyd?"

"_Yeah_," she said. "They're like my favourite band of all time. I can play almost all of their songs."

"You play an instrument? Which one?" asked Finn. _No way, no way, no way! It was too much to hope for._

"The guitar of course," she grinned.

Finn's jaw dropped, then he smiled. He forget about the Iris crystal and his pink hair. He forget about his worries about Aerrow and Piper.

He and Barbette effortlessly talked about their favourite bands and their music and he started to discover that, not only was she incredibly hot, but they had a lot in common.

_Eros: Romantic love - sensual love, sparked by attraction, fuelled by compatibility and passion._

In fact, he started to enjoy himself so much, that not only had he forgot about the hair, and Iris crystal, and Piper and Aerrow, but he had also forgot about his bet with Stork and his strict time schedule.

*******

Stork was, of course watching the clock carefully, waiting for the last dance to end, and for the clock to hit midnight. More so, because he wanted to leave. He didn't have much of a problem with sitting at a table, alone, except he wasn't doing anything particularly interesting. As the last song played, he felt perhaps, a bit gloomier than usual.

If he was going to sit there alone he wanted to at least sit alone at the Condor.

Because the truth is this: _Sometimes you stand alone for the last dance._

Stork got up and walked over to the dance floor.

_And some people dance anyways._

*-*-*-*

Piper and Aerrow stood outside hearing the last song play quietly, mixing with the sound of the breeze and the rustling grass.

Aerrow's hand twitched a little closer to Piper's, but stayed at his side. Piper leaned a little closer to him, so that their hands touched some more. They reached out and linked pinkies.

_Philia: Love of Friendship- The love between people, derived from compatibility, honesty, and trust._

And the stars kept shining.


	17. See What Happens

**A/N: This is the final chapter so I'd like to ask everyone reading to please review and tell me what you thought of my story. I've spent hours writing and editing, you can take five mintues to say what you thought of it. I'm not totally happy with it myself but I'm posting it all today as my valentine's gift to you guys. Special thanks to StormyReader who has driven insane all weekened but did help a little too. Happy Valentine's Day.**

* * *

Softly, the dance ended.

"Thank you ladies and gentleman," said the announcer, much quieter than before. "We all hope you've had a wonderful night. Goodnight!"

People parted and divided up, few staying together.

Aerrow and Piper came back inside, and let go of their hands, looking for the rest of their team. It took them a minute to find Stork, mainly because it didn't look like Stork at first.

It's not like there were any other Merbs at the dance, but the smile really threw them off. The fact that he was still dancing with himself to the 'end' music was also a bit odd.

"Stork?" said Piper.

Stork froze, then turned slowly.

"Oh. Um, hey."

"What were you doing?"

"Ummm…dancing?" he chuckled embarrassedly.

"Where's Finn?" asked Aerrow.

"Right here," announced a triumphant voice.

The three of them turned to see Finn.

Piper stared at his hair curiously. "Your hair's pink again." She said.

"I know. Don't you love it?" Finn said stroking his hair.

"But I thought you had the Chroma crystal make it look blond again." Piper stated confusedly.

Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out the Iris crystal and tossed it to Piper.

"It _was_ a Chroma crystal," he complained.

"Looks like the change isn't permanent," said Aerrow.

Finn then walked right up to Stork and shoved a piece of paper in his face. "Read it and weep, Stork. I just signed the deal a minute ago. I've just got a date next Friday with a lovely lady who loves to rock and roll."

Stork cringed. "Oh yeah, well, how do I know you didn't just make that up?" asked Stork.

There was whistle across the dance floor.

"See ya next Friday Finn!" cried out Barbette across the dance floor and she blew him kiss before leaving with her girlfriends.

Finn waved dopily after her, then smiled evilly at Stork.

Stork groaned.

"A bets, a bet," hummed Finn.

Aerrow and Piper looked confused but let it go.

"We'd better get going," said Aerrow. "I told Radar and Junko to meet us outside at midnight and it's already 12: 06. The dance went a little longer than expected."

"Wait," said Stork, a glimmer of hope in his eye. "Did you say, _12:06?"_

"Yeah," said Aerrow puzzled.

Stork's face broke out into a grin as he turned to Finn. "You said you 'signed the deal' a minute ago."

"Guh," said Finn. "I was, you know like, exaggerating."

"So it was _less _than a minute ago," said Stork.

"You know what I mean! Oh Come on Stork!"

"A bet's a bet," he throwing Finn's words back at his face. "The Condor is going to much queiter from now on."

Finn groaned.

"That's what you guys were betting on?" said Piper incredulous. "On whether Finn could get a date before midnight?"

"Well I did get a date," argued Finn and he looked back at the piece of paper with Barbette's phone number. Maybe he _had _lost, but she was still totally hot and awesome. And if he went out with her, who was Stork to know the difference whether they'd been playing guitar or not? Not like he'd be there. Finn grinned.

Aerrow shook his head at his team-mates antics. "C'mon let's go you guys-"

"Wait," shouted Finn suddenly. He turned suddenly and faced Piper and Aerrow, taking them by surprise.

"You guys aren't like together now are you?" He said panicking.

"_What?" _said Aerrow and Piper at the same time. "_No."_

Finn sighed in relief much to everyone's confusion.

"Well, that's good. I think you guys are much better as friends anyway. "

Piper and Aerrow looked at each other, then back at Finn.

"Those guys didn't hit you on the head did they?" asked Piper concernedly.

"Trust me," said Finn, "I'm perfectly fine. In fact, I think I'm seeing things more clearly than ever." And seeing that total disaster had been evaded, Finn turned and strode victoriously toward the grounds.

*-*-*-*

They found Junko and Cardinal outside in the parking lot. Junko was under another person's heli-scooter and he seemed to be repairing it.

"What's going on?" asked Aerrow.

It was Cardinal who answered.

"It's my friend's ride. It won't start so, Junko's trying to fix it."

Junko pulled himself up and smiled at the young couple who been watching him.

"All fixed," he said. "Just a loose carburetor that's all."

The couple visible relaxed and thanked Junko.

_Agape: Charity- Often the most under played of loves it is also the greatest. Unconditional love for all people._

"That was a nice thing you did Junko," said Piper.

"It was nothing," he said humbly. "I'll meet you guys back at the Condor, I gotta go drop Cardinal off."

"Okay," said Aerrow "Meet you then."

As Junko turned to leave another Storm Hawk arrived. Radarr literally fell out of the bushes, feathers all in his fur.

He smiled weakly and raise a finger.

"Whoa," said Finn. "And I thought _I_ was the ladies man."

*-*-*-*-*

The Storm Hawks were finally all back together, and all were quite tired. It was only then, after changing into pyjamas, that Piper remembered she had made a special Valentine's cake which they all shared sitting in the room where they had home movie night, bringing in a table and some extra chairs. Then Finn started a random movie and they all tried to squish onto the couch, only not everyone could fit so Junko had sat on the floor with a pillow. It wasn't long before pretty much everyone had fallen asleep. Junko lay up against the couch the pillow between his head and the seat, while Finn's legs rested on his shoulder. Finn was drooling leaning over the far side of the couch with Barbette's number still on one hand. Stork had conked out too, and was leaning against Finn, with his legs laid out long ways across the couch over Piper and Aerrow's legs. Piper had dozed off and was snoring quietly while leaning on Aerrow. Curled upon Aerrows' lap Radarr was fitfully asleep, twitching every so often, feathers still stuck in his blue fur.

_Storge: Family Love- The love and affection for one's family._

Aerrow was the only one awake. The film had long gone blank and was muted. Piper's hair tickled his face. He shifted a little, wrapping his arm around her and resting his head on hers, while his other hand petted Radarr.

"_You ever think...about what were gonna do for the rest of our lives?"_

"_What do you mean? Were gonna be Storm Hawks."_

"_But besides that?" _

"_Anything I guess. We'll just have to see what happens." _

Sometimes, he admitted, he did think about it. About _them. _He didn't know what he'd do without Piper. He didn't want to know. But he wasn't sure.

He had, in the end, decided not to worry about it. There was no need to rush anything- they had the rest of their lives to figure things out. He didn't want to mess things up either. He liked his friendship with Piper and he didn't want to ruin it. He might be okay with them being more, but was she? Was Piper ready? Did she feel the same way? She knew as well as him, that if anything did go wrong, the team would suffer too.

Sometimes Piper hesitated. She worried. She was a bit slower to trust. But that was okay. He'd wait. Till she knew. Till they both knew.

Aerrow smiled to himself.

_We'll see what happens._

_Besides_, he thought to himself, _who needs romance, when you have the best friends in the entire Atmos?_


End file.
